Focaccia ( , , ; lij, fugassa ; nap, label= Barese, fecazze ) is a

flat Flat or flats may refer to: Architecture * Flat (housing), an apartment in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and other Commonwealth countries Arts and entertainment * Flat (music), a symbol () which denotes a lower pitch * Flat (soldier), ...

leavened Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made food ...

oven-baked Italian

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

, similar in style and texture to

pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...

; in some places, it is called ("white pizza"). Focaccia can be served as a side dish or as sandwich bread and it can be round, rectangular, or square shape.

Etymology and terminology

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

, was a flat bread baked on the

hearth A hearth () is the place in a home where a fire is or was traditionally kept for home heating and for cooking, usually constituted by at least a horizontal hearthstone and often enclosed to varying degrees by any combination of reredos (a lo ...

. The word is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

'hearth, place for baking'. The basic recipe is thought by some to have originated with the

Etruscans The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, rou ...

, but today it is widely associated with Ligurian cuisine, while outside Liguria the word usually refers to the Genoese variants. The first attestation of the word dates back to the

14th century As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was a century lasting from 1 January 1301 ( MCCCI), to 31 December 1400 ( MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and n ...

. Focaccia is sometimes considered to be a kind of pizza, though focaccia is left to rise after being flattened, while pizza is baked immediately.

Regional variants

Focaccia genovese

(' Genoese focaccia'), marked by its finger-sized holes on its surface ( in Genoese dialect), is brushed or sprinkled with

olive oil Olive oil is a liquid fat obtained from olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea''; family Oleaceae), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin, produced by pressing whole olives and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking: f ...

, coarse salt, and sometimes water before the final rise. In Genoa, focaccia is eaten in the morning at breakfast or during the day. It is often dipped in milk or in

cappuccino A cappuccino (; ; Italian plural: ''cappuccini'') is an espresso-based coffee drink that originated in Austria and was later popularized in Italy and is prepared with steamed milk foam (microfoam). Variations of the drink involve the use of cre ...

at breakfast and eaten warm and wet. Focaccia_Genovese_01

Ligurian variants

Focaccia has countless variations along the Ligurian coast, from the biscuit-hard ('dry focaccia') to the corn-flour, oily, soft Voltri version, some bearing little resemblance to the Genoese version. An extreme example is ('focaccia with cheese'), also called or , which is made in Recco, near Genoa. This version has

stracchino cheese Stracchino (), also known as ''crescenza'' (), is a type of Italian cow's-milk cheese, typical of Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, and Liguria. It is eaten very young, has no rind and a very soft, creamy texture and normally a mild and delicate flavou ...

sandwiched between two layers of paper-thin dough. Other versions have a surface covered with sauce or ham. Focaccia di Recco - Tradizionale

Other variants

In Northwest Italy, a popular variant is ('sweet focaccia'), which is sprinkled lightly with sugar, and may include

raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the d ...

s or

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

. In Northeast Italy, ('Venetian focaccia') is typical for

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

; it is based on eggs, sugar and butter and it is similar to panettone and pandoro. In

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

and the Austrian village of Krimml, (locally ) is a traditional Easter gift from godparents to their godchildren. It is made slightly thinner in the centre so that dyed eggs can be placed there. The traditional variant from

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, , is prepared with

durum wheat Durum wheat (), also called pasta wheat or macaroni wheat (''Triticum durum'' or ''Triticum turgidum'' subsp. ''durum''), is a Polyploid, tetraploid species of wheat. It is the second most cultivated species of wheat after common wheat, although ...

flour and topped with tomatoes.

Focaccia al rosmarino

('focaccia with rosemary') is topped with

rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...

. It may be served as an antipasto, 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. Potato rosemary focaccia is often called "potato pizza" in New York City. Although rosemary is the most common

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

used to flavor focaccia,

sage Sage or SAGE may refer to: Plants * ''Salvia officinalis'', common sage, a small evergreen subshrub used as a culinary herb ** Lamiaceae, a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint or deadnettle or sage family ** ''Salvia'', a large ...

is also used, and the variant is called . may have a moist texture, and the exact recipe varies. It may be savory or sweet. It is typically baked, although it is sometimes fried. Garlic or basil may be added. It is sometimes served accompanied with slices of . It may be used in the preparation of sandwiches. File:Focaccia al rosmarino.jpg, Slices of File:Focaccia con rosmarino.jpg, A close-up view of

Etymology and terminology

Regional variants

Focaccia genovese

Ligurian variants

Other variants

Focaccia al rosmarino

See also

Notes

References

Further reading