Name: Purple Pala Romana
Cook time: 25200 s
Total time: 25200 s
Yield: 1 pala
Ingredients: For the pala:; 370 gr bread flour; 295 gr water (80% hydration); 93 gr active sourdough starter (25% levain); 1 gr dry yeast; 4 gr purple sweet potato powder; 8 gr salt; 12 gr extra virgin olive oil; For the toppings; 2 white onions, thinly sliced; 2 red onions, thinly sliced; 2 shallots, thinly sliced; 2 bunches of spring onions, thinly sliced; 2 tbsp sumac; 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 2 tsp salt; 1 lemon, zest and juice; 1 bunch of fresh oregano, leaves; Feta

BenGingi

This naturally leavened flatbread is made with a touch of purple sweet potato powder for a gorgeous, subtle hint of color. It’s topped with a combination of 4 whole onions, 2 whole shallots (probably could’ve used more, tbh), oregano, sumac, lemon zest, feta, and olive oil. Talk about a FLAVOR-PACKED flatbread! 

I made this beauty with my favorite baker, Kim (Cookim Mama), and we had a blast jiggling and dimpling away at this dough. We hope you do too! This dough is super versatile, so feel free to customize it however you like.

Purple Pala Romana

Feed your starter before you go to sleep in a 1:4:4 ratio. Place in a cool area (not in the fridge) overnight.

In the morning, in a bowl combine the flour, purple sweet potato powder and 270 gr water and autolyse for an hour.

Add the starter, mix it in until incorporated. Then add the salt, yeast and remaining 25 gr of water.

Once incorporated add the olive oil and work the dough until it's relatively smooth. Let the dough rest, covered with a plastic wrap for 30 minutes (In the following steps the dough will get less and less sticky). 

Bulk fermentation: after letting the dough to rest for 30 min, perform 2 rounds of stretch and folds every 30 min. After that, perform 3 coil folds with 1 hour in between rounds. At that point the dough should be puffy and show visible signs of fermentation.

Transfer the dough onto a wet counter and give it a preshape (round into an oval shape). Then transfer the preshaped dough to a baking tray that's been generously dusted with semolina flour. Cover and let the dough continue proofing for 2-3 hours or until it has doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 500F or 260C. Mix the onions, sumac, fresh oregano leaves, olive oil and salt together in a separate bowl.

Generously sprinkle the dough with semolina flour and dimple both sides like a focaccia. Remove any excess of flour. 

Bake for 15-18 min or until the top is golden. 

Crumble feta on top, slice and eat immediately. 

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