Genovese focaccia

La focaccia Genovese

Italian focaccia from Genoa Traditional recipe of Liguria

Italian focaccia from Genoa, on a servin plate — Focaccia recipe from Genoa

yeld for 4

For the focaccia dough
500 g (1lb and 1 1/2oz) all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
250 ml (8 3/4fl oz) warm water
10 g (1/2oz) fresh yeast
35 g (1 1/4oz) extra virgin olive oil
8 to 10 g (1/2oz) salt
For the topping
100 ml (3 1/2fl oz) warm water
3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of salt

Time:
preparation: 25 minutes
plus leavening time
cooking: 20 minutes
total time: plus than 3 hours
Difficulty:
medium difficulty
Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 571 (kCal) 29 % GDA (*) - 2390 (kJ)
Protein: 13.8 (g) 28 % GDA
Total fat: 17.1 (g) 25 % GDA
Total carbohydrate: 96.6 (g) 36 % GDA
Sugars: 2.1 (g) 3 % GDA

The Genovese focaccia (flat bread from Genoa) is well known throughout Italy and abroad. In the Genoese dialect is called "a fugassa". People in Genoa eat focaccia all day from morning to evening.
In the morning it is an excellent accompaniment of milk or cappuccino, according to the Genoese people, or a fantastic snack.
In the evening it accompanies the traditional aperitivo (happy hour).
The Genovese focaccia has been known since 1500. It was eaten at church, accompanied by a glass of wine during the wedding at the moment of blessing.

Making homemade focaccia takes time for the various steps of rising. You do not have to be in a hurry. Our tip is you prepare it during holidays or in a day of rest when you have more time. Do not be groped by the use of a larger amount of yeast. Certainly this thing speeds up the time but the focaccia is not so good!
Beyond that, it should be noted that, just as happens for the Neapolitan pizza and coffee, what makes the difference is of course oil and water of the place. The oil can be purchased. But the water ... So you can not expect to get a homemade focaccia as tasty as the focaccia made in Genoa.

Here's the recipe of Genovese focaccia!

Prepare the dough. Mix the flour with warm water, oil and salt following the step-by-step instructions for the pizza dough.

First leavening. Place the floured dough on a floured surface, cover with a thick cotton towel and let rise for about 60 to 90 minutes in a warm place, far from drafts.

Second leavening. Take the dough and roll it out into the baking tray (the plate of the oven) greased with a tablespoon oil (one of the three tablespoons reported for the topping ingredients) and sprinkled with flour. Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes.
At this point create the classic pits with your fingers being careful not to pierce the dough.
Prepare the dressing. Mix oil with salt and warm water. Beat the mixture with a whisk to emulsify the oil. Sprinkle the surface of the cake with this emulsion. Do not worry if you see that your focaccia will be immersed in this solution. The real Genovese focaccia must complete its leavening and bake in this solution.

Third leavening. Let rise the focaccia so that it reaches the limit of the pan. The more you let the cake rise the more your focaccia will be tender and tasty. Remember some people say you should not have a thickness greater than 2 cm

Bake the focaccia. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
Cook for about 20 minutes or until surface is golden

Note

- If you want to get a better product you could make another leavening before starting with the recipe. Dissolve yeast in 100 ml warm water and then add this solution to 50 g flour. Let the dough rise for about an hour and then proceed to make the dough adding the remaining ingredients. The leavening will be perfect!
- Obviously the amount of water can be very variable. It depends on the type of flour, humidity of the day ...
- Some people season Genovese focaccia with coarse salt instead of fine salt as you've just read in our version and use a mixture of water and white wine to make the dough.
- Serve this focaccia as an appetizer with aperitivo before lunch or dinner. Or cut crossways and fill with a good salami for a snack with friends.
Serve with a plate of mixed salami as starter. Accompany meat or fish course with Genoese focaccia.
We generally accompany some Italian soups with this focaccia such as wedding soup.
- There are many variations of the original recipe as you can imagine. A particularly tasty variation is focaccia genovese with onions (about 500 g red or white onions)

What's the right wine ?

Our suggestion is: Pigato (white wine)