Focaccia is popular Italian bread, baked with various herbs, cheese and ingredients. Focaccia bread is similar to pizza, but it is not actually pizza. The bread is eaten along with some seasonal additive or topping. Focaccia is quite famous in Italy as a popular snack, and is enjoyed the most by school going children, who normally stop at the baker’s shop to enjoy the snack while heading to school.

A typical focaccia recipe makes use of baked dough that is topped with sage or rosemary herb and olive oil. Coarse salt is used for making the dish salty.   

There are several variations of focaccia bread, which may vary from simple to complex method of preparation and from savory to sweet flavor.

History of Focaccia

The name “focaccia” has been derived from “panis focacius” which is Roman phrase, referring to flat bread loaf cooked under fire ashes. Initially the ingredients of focaccia recipe consisted of water, flour and salt. Though, the focaccia bread was not raised in early times as Mediterranean climate had salty air; however, these days most of the recipes make use of leavening agents like yeast for raising the bread.

In recent times, the bread has earned great level of affiliation with respect to religious ceremonies like catholic celebration and Christmas Eve. In US, the bread became popular when it was used in pizza form. Focaccia is readily available in various coffee shops and supermarkets. Also, this focaccia bread can be preserved in air tight containers or in frozen form for future use.  

Focaccia Recipe – Ingredients

The ingredients for preparing the focaccia dough include water, flour, yeast, oil and salt. A number of ingredients may be used for topping the bread, such as cheese, meat, and onions. Flavor can be added by topping the focaccia with variety of vegetables.

Focaccia Recipe – Preparation

The dough of focaccia is quite similar in texture and style like pizza dough, which consists of high gluten flour, water, oil, salt, and yeast. The dough is pressed or rolled out by hand into thick layer and is baked in oven. The bread is punctured with knife so as to get rid of bubbles on the bread’s surface.

It is also a common practice to dot the bread. A handle of any utensil or fingers may be used to create multiple wells in bread for poking the dough which is unbaked. In northern Italy, lard is sometimes added to focaccia dough to attain soft and little flaky texture.

Focaccia Recipe – Variations

The recipes for bread makers are mainly classified into three types, which are explained below:

Basic focaccia bread

In the basic focaccia recipe, the ingredients used for baking the bread include water, salt, granulated sugar, yeast and flour. All the ingredients are beaten properly, poured in the pan coated lightly with some flour, covered with a big bowl, and allowed to rest for a few minutes. The dough is then divided into two equal sized rectangles, pinched with finger tips for dimpling, covered, allowed to rise before dimpling it again, and covered with toppings (optional). The dough is then baked in oven to get focaccia.

Caramelized onion focaccia bread

In this focaccia recipe, onions are used for topping the bread. The dough is prepared as usual with water, flour, oil, sugar, salt, and yeast as the ingredients. After dimpling the dough and before placing the dough in the oven, it is topped with chopped onions and finely chopped garlic, which have been already cooked in butter until the onions became caramelized and brown. The fociacca is served hot.

Onion rosemary focaccia bread

This focaccia recipe makes use of onion, cornmeal, yeast, flour, salt, olive oil, water, and rosemary leaves for preparing the dough. Garlic oil or olive oil, coarse salt and black pepper (ground) are used for baking purposes. All the dough ingredients are collected together and run in the dough machine. The onions that are used in the dough should be cooked until golden, and the liquid should be strained. After the focaccia dough is ready, it is coated with the strained onion liquid, covered, and allowed to rise for some time. Small indentations are made at the top of dough, olive oil or garlic oil is drizzled, coarse salt and black pepper are sprinkled, and the dough is placed in the oven. Delicious onion rosemary focaccia bread is ready to be served.

Uses of Focaccia

• Focaccia can be served as a side dish for various vegetables and meat dishes.

• It can be used for making vegetable, cheese or chicken sandwiches.

• Focaccia can also be used as a pizza base.