Ancient Foods: Italia Focaccia

Focaccia (Italian pronunciation: [foˈkat͡ʃːa]) is a flat oven-baked Italian bread product similar in style and texture to pizza doughs. It may be topped with herbs or other ingredients. Focaccia is typical of Liguria, but is popular throughout Italy and is usually seasoned just with olive oil and salt. Sometimes are added herbs, and may at times be topped with onion or cheese. It might also be flavored with a number of vegetables. Focaccia can be used as a side to many meals or as sandwich bread. 

Focaccia al rosmarino (focaccia with rosemary) is a common focaccia style in Italian cuisine that may be served as an antipasto, appetizer, table bread, or snack.

Focaccia is similar to Lagana (Greek: λαγάνα, from λάγανον), a Greek flatbread.

Composition

The common-known focaccia is salt focaccia. Focaccia doughs are similar in style and texture to pizza doughs, consisting of high-gluten flour, oil, water, salt and yeast. It is typically rolled out or pressed by hand into a thick layer of dough and then baked in a stone-bottom or hearth oven. Bakers often puncture the bread with fingers to relieve bubbling on the surface of the bread.

Also common is the practice of dotting the bread. This creates multiple wells in the bread by using a finger or the handle of a utensil to poke the unbaked dough. As a way to preserve moisture in the bread, olive oil is then spread over the dough, by hand or with a pastry brush prior to rising and baking. In the northern part of Italy, lard will sometimes be added to the dough, giving the focaccia a softer, slightly flakier texture. Focaccia recipes are widely available, and with the popularity of bread machines, many cookbooks now provide versions of dough recipes that do not require hand kneading.

Etymology and regional variants

In Ancient Rome, panis focacius was a flat bread baked on the hearth. The word is derived from the Latin focus meaning "hearth, place for baking." The basic recipe is thought by some to have originated with the Etruscans, but today it is widely associated with Ligurian cuisine.

As the tradition spread, the different dialects and diverse local ingredients resulted in a large variety of bread (some may even be considered cake). Due to the number of small towns and hamlets dotting the coast of Liguria, the focaccia recipe has fragmented into countless variations (from the biscuit-hard focaccia di Camogli to the oily softness of the one made in Voltri), with some bearing little resemblance to its original form. The most extreme example is a specialty called focaccia col formaggio ("focaccia with cheese") which is made in Recco, near Genoa. Other than the name, this Recco version bears no resemblance to other focaccia varieties, having a cailléand cheese filling sandwiched between two layers of paper-thin dough.

Out of Liguria, focaccia comes in many regional variations and its recipe, its texture, its flavor remarkably varies from north to south of Italy. In some parts of the Northwest, for example, a popular recipe is focaccia dolce ("sweet focaccia"), consisting of a basic focaccia base and sprinkled lightly with sugar, or including raisins, honey, or other sweet ingredients. Another sweet focaccia from the Northeast is focaccia veneta ("Venetian focaccia"), a typical cake of the Venetian Easter tradition: it is based on eggs, sugar and butter (instead of olive oil and salt) and it looks quite similar to panettone or to another Venetian cake like pandoro.

In South Tyrol and in the small village of Krimml in Austria, the so-called Osterfochaz (in Krimml Fochiz) is the traditional Easter gift of the Godparents to their Godchildren. Therefore, the bread is slightly thinner in the middle, in order to put in the coloured Easter eggs.

Back to olive oil- and salt-based focacce (e.g. focaccia alla genovese, originated in Genoa), Central Italian cuisine has its own specialties as well. In Florence there are "focaccia with potato and rosemary" and schiacciata also called schiaccia in the rest of Tuscany. The Roman pizza bianca ("white pizza") can be extensively considered as variants of focaccia as well.[citation needed]

Outside of Italy, focaccia is used extensively as a sandwich bread.

Focaccia al rosmarino

Focaccia al rosmarino (focaccia with rosemary) is a common flatbread style in Italian cuisine that may be served as an antipasto, appetizer, table bread, or snack. Similar dishes include focaccia alla salvia, pizza bianca and potato rosemary focaccia, the latter of which is referred to as "potato pizza" in New York City. Like other focaccie, focaccia al rosmarino is sometimes considered to be a kind of pizza, though they are generally distinguished in Italy.

Overview

Focaccia al rosmarino is a popular style of flatbread in Italian cuisine prepared using focaccia dough, rosemary, olive oil and salt, sea salt or kosher salt. Focaccia al rosmarino may be served as antipasto (appetizer), table bread or snack. Whole or sliced fresh rosemary leaves may be used, as can dried rosemary. It may be garnished with sprigs of fresh rosemary after baking and sprinkled with salt.

Focaccia al rosmarino may have a moist texture, and the ingredients used in its preparation and the shape it is formed in varies in different regions. It may be prepared as a savory or sweet dish. The dish is typically baked, although it is sometimes fried in oil. Rosemary is among the most common herbs used to flavor focaccia bread. Additional ingredients such as garlic, or basil may be used. It is sometimes served accompanied with slices of prosciutto, an Italian dry-cured ham. It can be prepared as a gluten-free dish and as a vegan dish. It may be used in the preparation of sandwiches.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Directions

Combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Put the bowl in a warm, not hot or cool, place until the yeast is bubbling and aromatic, at least 15 minutes.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, 1/2 cup olive oil and the yeast mixture on low speed. Once the dough has come together, continue to knead for 5 to 6 minutes on a medium speed until it becomes smooth and soft. Give it a sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.

Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly floured surface, then knead it by hand 1 or 2 times. Again, give it another sprinkle of flour if the dough is really sticky and tacky.

Coat the inside of the mixer bowl lightly with olive oil and return the dough to the bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size, at least 1 hour.

Coat a jelly roll pan with the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil. (Chef's Note: This may seem excessive, but focaccia is an oily crusted bread. This is why it is soooooooooo delicious!).

Put the dough onto the jelly roll pan and begin pressing it out to fit the size of the pan. Turn the dough over to coat the other side with the olive oil. Continue to stretch the dough to fit the pan. As you are doing so, spread your fingers out and make finger holes all the way through the dough. (Chef's Note: Yes, this is strange. But when the dough rises again it will create the characteristic craggy looking focaccia. If you do not make the actual holes in the dough, the finished product will be very smooth.)

Put the dough in the warm place until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour. While the dough is rising a second time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Liberally sprinkle the top of the focaccia with some coarse sea salt and lightly drizzle a little oil on top. Bake the dough until the top of the loaf is golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the focaccia from the oven and let it cool before cutting and serving.