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Focaccia recipe – Original Italian
Crispy, juicy, soft and airy. These are the best advantages of Italian flatbread. Focaccia is easy to make and only needs a few ingredients. Perfect as a light lunch, for an aperitif or to make sandwiches.
Schritt für Schritt durch´s Rezept
- Step 1Stir the salt into the cold water.
- Step 2Rub the fresh yeast into the flour.
- Step 3Gradually add the salt water to the flour and knead either by hand or with a food processor.
- Step 4Add the sugar and olive oil to the dough and continue to knead. As soon as the dough is elastic and no longer sticky, cover and leave to stand at room temperature for 2 hours.
- Step 5Then place the dough in the fridge for 24 hours.
- Step 6Before putting the dough in the oven, leave it covered at room temperature for 2 hours.
- Step 7Now brush a baking tray with olive oil and press the dough into the rectangular shape with your fingers. Leave the dough to rise again for 30 minutes.
- Step 8Now press small dents into the entire dough with your fingertips. Pour olive oil and coarse sea salt into the fingerprints. The olive oil should cover the entire surface.
- Step 9Sprinkle the focaccia with oregano and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 25 minutes until golden brown.
Liguria is Italy’s focaccia mecca
Focaccia belongs to Liguria like pizza belongs to Naples. And in fact, the step from foccaccia to pizza is not that big! However, a good focaccia is not as thin as a pizza and not as richly topped. It has a fluffy, soft center, is crispy on the outside and baked golden brown with extra olive oil!
In Genoa, fugassa, as the flatbread is called in the local dialect, is eaten throughout the day. It starts at breakfast. At lunchtime, the flatbread is taken as a snack from one of the many bakeries (called panetteria) and eaten straight from the hand, wrapped in buttered paper. In the evening, fugassa is cut into small pieces for an aperitif.
The word focaccia is derived from the Latin “focus”. Focus means something like fireplace or cooking in the fireplace. Even the ancient Romans baked this flatbread.
Foccacia – different recipes in the regions of Italy
There are many variations of bread in Italy. They differ in the production process and in the choice of ingredients and spices.
- Genoa: classic version of flatbread with olive oil and salt, with onions, Recco Focaccia (with stracchino)
- Florence: with grapes
- Piedmont: di Susa (sweet version), Novese (with lard)
- Focaccia from Bari (with tomatoes)
- Focaccia from Messina (with frisée, tomatoes, anchovies and cheese)
- Southern Italy: with black olives
Ingenious idea: sandwiches made from focaccia
Focaccia sandwiches are a great way to spice up Italian flatbread. Also a very good idea if you have some focaccia left over! Simply reheat the leftovers briefly in the oven, cut open and fill with salumi and vegetables.
- 1 Glass Crema di Parmigiano
- 100 g Antipasti in olive oil
- 1/2 Confederation Rukkola
- 100 g Parma ham
- 100 g Italian salami
- 6 Taggiasca olives
- 6 Basil leaves
- 6 wooden skewers
Schritt für Schritt durch´s Rezept
- Step 1Cut the cooled focaccia into 6 pieces measuring approx. 6×6 cm.
- Step 2Cut the pieces in the middle, like a bread roll.
- Step 3Spread the base with Parmesan cream. Then top with a little rocket, antipasti, ham and salami. Place the lid on top.
- Step 4Place an olive and a basil leaf on a skewer and secure the sandwiches with them.
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