Focaccia Genovese – An Authentic Italian Bread

Step into my kitchen as we embark on a culinary journey to Italy with this traditional focaccia Genovese recipe. When the crunch of the outer crust melds with the fluffy interior, you’ll find yourself on a Genoa-style focaccia adventure, all within the comfort of your home.

Focaccia is a simple joy, only needing the basic staples: dough, rosemary, and a pinch of salt. Yet, this is just the canvas. Layer your own choice of toppings onto this classic focaccia base, customizing this Italian recipe to your palate’s desire. Intrigued? Bene, let’s dive in!

Fancy yourself a baker? Well, even if you’re not, this Ligurian specialty is within reach.

Our adventure in bread-making only takes an hour, with half of the time spent admiring the dough as it rises in a warm place beneath a snug cover of plastic wrap.

Yes, the secret to a perfect focaccia is patience – simply sit, relax, and let it rest.

Don’t fret if you’re new to this game, I will guide you through the process, step-by-step, showing you how easy it can be to create this classic focaccia Genovese.

And trust me, this golden brown beauty will be worth every moment invested, transforming you into the star baker you’ve always dreamed to be! If you find yourself falling in love with the art of baking, why not try this effortless rosemary parmesan bread next?

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the star of our show: the Focaccia Genovese. A cherished Italian oven-baked flatbread, it echoes the texture of pizza dough, making it the perfect snack, appetizer, table bread, or base for sandwiches.

This recipe takes us to the heart of Liguria, the home of “focaccia all’olio”, which translates to focaccia with oil. In the local Genoese dialect, it’s known as Focaccia Fugassa.

Our Genoa-style focaccia has a thickness of approximately ½ inch, yielding a tender, chewy interior beneath a delightfully crusty exterior, a testament to the coarse sea salt generously sprinkled on top. But the question still remains, where does focaccia originate from?

Focaccia holds a deep-rooted place in Liguria’s culinary tradition, tracing back to the era of the Roman Empire.

The term “focaccia” first made an appearance in 1300, deriving from Latin “panis focacius”. Here “panis” translates to bread and “focacius” hails from “focus”, meaning fireplace.

This bread was baked even before the loaves, serving as a test for the oven’s temperature.

With the myriad of focaccia variations blanketing Italy, from the salty peaks of the North to the sweet valleys of the South, you’ll quickly understand the beauty of this humble homemade bread.

Though its roots are grounded in simplicity – flour, water, yeast, extra virgin olive oil, and salt – the canvas of focaccia, like a painter’s palette, gleams with countless possibilities.

Our journey begins in Liguria, the birthplace of the Focaccia Genovese. Note the dimples dotting its surface, imprinted by the tips of the baker’s fingers. Glazed with extra virgin olive oil and flaky sea salt, it’s a breakfast staple often dipped into a warm cappuccino.

As we travel towards the Northwest, we encounter Focaccia Dolce, or Sweet Focaccia. Lightly dressed with honey, raisins, or a dusting of sugar, it’s a charming contrast to its savory cousin.

Next, we visit the commune of Recco, known for its “focaccia di Recco”. Here, the focaccia is as thin as parchment, often baked as a cheese sandwich.

This delicate version envelops stracchino cheese within two sheets of dough, cut in half to reveal its mouthwatering core.

Our journey takes us to the Northeast during Easter, where the Venetian Focaccia shines. Bearing a resemblance to panettone and pandoro, this regional variant boasts a sweet recipe laden with eggs, sugar, and butter.

Focaccia al Rosmarino, crowned with sprigs of fresh or dried rosemary, graces many an Italian table. Whether you savor it as an antipasto, table bread, or simple snack, its aromatic charm is hard to resist.

In Rome, our Genovese focaccia adopts the guise of Pizza Bianca, often used as a canvas for mortadella sandwiches, while in central Italy, Tuscany and Umbria present us with schiacciata, a focaccia doppelgänger.

With a texture akin to our classic focaccia, it gains a burst of flavor from ripe tomato slices and a sprinkle of oregano.

Further south, in Sicily, we find regional variations like the Schiacciata Catanese, stuffed with anchovies and Tuma cheese.

And let’s not forget the Schiacciata Messinese, a typical focaccia of Messina bursting with potatoes, tomatoes, Tuma or caciocavallo cheese, anchovies, and more.

Now, picture this: you are in your kitchen, a large mixing bowl at the ready, your hands poised to mix lukewarm water and yeast. As the mixture comes together, you’ll fold the dough, let it rise, and then use your fingertips to form the dough to fit the rectangular shape of the bottom of the pan.

Once you cover it with plastic wrap, let the dough rest, and give it a second rise, it’s time to sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Into the oven, it goes, and once it’s golden and tempting, remove it from the oven and immediately brush it with a mixture of brine and oil.

So, ready to start this adventure? Grab your baking pan and baking sheet, make sure your bread flour is at ready, and let’s jump into this focaccia recipe. Add the salt, and let your dough hook do its magic until everything comes together.

Let it rest and rise, then bake the focaccia until it turns golden brown. Once the focaccia is golden brown, brush it with a generous brine, and let it rest for another 20-30 minutes before serving it up. Buon appetito!

🤩 Why You Will Love This Recipe?

• You only need a few ingredients to make it.
• It will take you less than an hour.
• If you like crispy bread, this recipe is a perfect fit for you.
• If you’re tired of the same sandwiches, replace the bread with focaccia, and you will get a new taste to your sandwiches.
• It’s a simple snack to take with you when you go on trips.

🏆 Tips for Success? How to Make It Better?

• Read the yeast instructions on the package. If you use yeast that says on the package that it must be dissolved in liquid, I suggest you be careful when preparing the leaven. Because if you put the yeast in too hot water, it will die, and the dough will not grow.
• If the yeast doesn’t require to dissolve in liquids, you can mix the yeast with the rest of the dry components from this recipe. This way, you will avoid the situation of having yeast lumps that will not incorporate into the dough.
• If you have enough time, prepare the dough, preferably the night before. This way, you will get a more intense taste of the focaccia.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment with focaccia toppings because this flatbread is a very versatile base, and you can use almost any combination.

Ingredients Needed for This Recipe:

For the dough:

• 4 cups of all-purpose flour (480 grams)
• 1 cup ¼ (300 ml) of warm water 100°F (38-39 °C)
• 2 tablespoons (25 ml) of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 teaspoons (20 grams) of Salt
• 2 teaspoons (8 grams ) of sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons (5 grams) of Dried Active Yeast

For the topping:

• Rosemary
• Coarse sea salt
• Extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients Swap?

• All-purpose flour. ⅓ of the amount of the flour, you can replace it with wholemeal flour. For a more authentic result, look for durum wheat flour or flour with a higher amount of protein.
• Rosemary. You can replace it with aromatic herbs, such as dried oregano or basil.

🤔 Why the Dough for Focaccia Genovese Didn’t Rise?

If you tried earlier to make focaccia and the dough didn’t rise, there are a few possible reasons why this happened:

1. The water you poured over the yeast was too hot. In that case, you killed the yeast from the beginning. The temperature of the water should be lower than 105°F (40°C). Ideally, it should be 100°F (38-39 °C)
2. When you prepared the leaven, you didn’t feed the yeasts enough with flour or sugar.
3. You let the dough rise too much without kneading it. Thus the yeasts did not have enough oxygen and suffocated.

👩‍🍳 Step-by-Step Instructions:

If you use yeast that needs to dissolve in liquids, the first step is to prepare the leaven. If your yeast doesn’t require dissolution, just skill this step.

Let’s get started. Take a bowl or a glass big enough, and pour in it ⅓ of a cup of warm water 100°F (38-39 °C).

Pour the yeast, a tablespoon of flour, and a tablespoon of sugar into the water. Mix well all the ingredients and leave them to rest in a shady place at room temperature.

When the composition increases in volume and obtains a dense foam on the surface, we can move on to the next step.

Take a big bowl, or if you will use the planetary mixer, pour the dry ingredients into the bowl of the mixer.

Then pour 1 cup of water, oil, and the leaven that we just made.

If you used yeast that doesn’t require its dissolution, put all the dry ingredients in the bowl, including the yeast.

Mix well, and after that, add the liquid ingredients.

Knead the dough well.

Quick Note: If you use a food processor, then the process will take about 10 minutes. If you do this process manually, it will take you about 20 minutes.

Grease the surface of the dough with extra virgin olive oil. This will help us to avoid drying the dough until it increases in volume.

After that, cover the bowl with plastic food film.

Quick Note: If you will bake the Genovese focaccia on the same day, then leave the dough at room temperature in a dark place to rise until it triples in volume. If you opt for the option to bake focaccia the next day, put the bowl covered with food film in the fridge and let it ferment overnight.

When the dough increases in volume about 3 times, take the baking tray, grease it well with olive oil, and pour the dough on the baking tray.

Using your hands, spread the dough evenly over the entire surface of the tray.

Grease well with olive oil and make holes in the dough with your fingers, as shown in the picture below.

Sprinkle the surface of the dough with coarse sea salt and rosemary or other aromatic herbs that you have decided to use.

Place the tray in the preheated oven at the maximum temperature that allows your oven.

Keep the focaccia inside until the top of the focaccia becomes well-browned.

Baking time varies depending on the power of your oven. (This usually varies between 30-45 minutes.)

Take the focaccia out of the oven, and you can serve it as is or as bread, along with your favorite dish.

Of course, it fits perfectly with any type of stew.

🙋 Answering Your Questions:

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