Focaccia is one of the world's oldest flatbreads with roots in ancient Greece and with the Etruscans, even before the Roman Empire reared its head. The Romans called it panis focacius (bread of the hearth) in Latin. In its basic form, it is a leavened bread, very similar to pizza but without all that cheese.  There have been versions of focaccia all through the Mediterranean coastline in Europe and northern Africa. In ancient Roman days, it looked like a very simple, flat round of pull-apart bread. It was a meal to be carried by shepherds and fishermen and meant to be eaten later.  In regions of neighboring France it's called fougasse. In Argentina and Brazil--both with large Italian immigrant populations--its name is fugazza and they can be either topped with stringy cheese or even double-crusted and stuffed.

The common modern form of focaccia is dimpled with fingertips to make little wells that can hold savory items like olives, cherry tomatoes, peppers, red onion, sliced potatoes, garlic or even sweet things like figs, pear slices, blueberries, walnuts, dates, honey, anise seeds, bulbing fennel (finnocchio), orange zest or grapes. The top is usually brushed or drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary, sea salt, pepper or other spices. Of course, you can sprinkle a bit of cheese (usually grated), but go to far and you've crossed the line between focaccia and pizza. The variations are endless.

In Italy, most pasticceria (pastry shops), panetteria (bread bakery) and even bars will have slices of focaccia often sliced and priced by weight. (Note: A "bar" in Italy is a family friendly place to get cappuccino and pastry in the morning and panini for lunch.)

Focaccia is usually baked in 1" deep, dark steel pans. The texture is usually bready and for that reason a high protein "strong" flour (bread flour here in the U.S.) is used. The thickness also has the benefit of being used to make panini, slicing through the middle and stuffing with provolone, mozzarella, prosciutto or thing slices of salami.

Ingredients
Yeast mixture:
1-3/4 cups warm water (110-115F)
1-1/5 tablespoons fast acting yeast
1 tablespoon honey

For the dough:
1 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour
2-3 cups King Arthur bread flour (plus extra bench flour)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil for the pan

Toppings:
Extra virgin olive oil (for brushing)
Cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup grated cheese (using 1/4 holes/box grater), provolone, asiago, or caciocavallo
(cheese is optional)
Dried thyme, rosemary, oregano, fresh ground pepper, sea salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 435F with a pizza stone or steel on the center shelf.

1. Liberally oil a dark half sheet pan with the olive oil and set aside.
2. Place the water in a small bowl and whisk in the yeast and honey until dissolved. Let sit until foamy, about 15 minutes.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attached, place 1 cup of all-purpose flour, sugar and salt, then mix until blended for a few seconds.
4. Once the yeast is foamy, pour it into the mixing bowl and turn the speed to a low setting.
5. Use a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides as you are adding flour.
6. Little by little, add 1/3 cup of bread flour, each time waiting until it blends into the dough mass. Keep adding flour, a bit at a time until it begins to come together in a wet, loose mass.
7. Turn up the mixer speed to medium high and let the dough mass slap against the sides of the bowl until you see strands of gluten sticking to the sides. You might need to occasionally dust a little bit (tablespoon) of flour into the mass, as you work, but don't add too much. You do NOT want a dry dough ball.
8. Once you see strands have developed and your mass is no longer wet but still sticky, slow the mixer's speed down, then dust with a small amount of flour just to help turning it out onto the work surface. Use the spatula to help release it from the dough hook and bowl.
9. Prepare a medium sized bowl by liberally coating it with olive oil. Flour the work surface.
10. Turn out the dough mass onto your floured surface. Flour your hands.
11. Dust the top of the dough with a little bit of flour, then start kneading, folding the close end over the rear edge, while pushing it with your palm in a downwards, rolling motion. Turn the dough--1/4 turn, then repeat for 2-3 minutes.
12. With your cupped hands, form the dough into a round ball.
13. Place the ball into the oiled bowl and turn over to coat both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes.
14. Once the dough has risen, without punching it down, roll it out onto the center of your baking pan. The dough should feel very fluffy with a coating of oil.
15. Using the fingertips of both hands, starting in the center, gently press and slide the dough out to fill to the edges of the pan. The dough might be stretchy and slide on your oiled pan, so you will need to let it rest for 5 minutes before you can nudge it to fill the corners of your pan.
16. After five minutes, adjust your dough so it fills the pan to both the edges and corners. Set aside in a warm place to rise in the pan for about 30 minutes before topping.
17. Prepare any toppings: cutting cherry tomatoes in half, grating cheese, mixing spices together, etc.
18. Next, press cherry tomato halves into the dough about 1-1/2" to 2" apart. Placing the tomatoes before the dough rises in the dough will help embed them as the dough rises.
19. Once the dough has puffed up to about 1" thick, first drizzle and then brush very lightly the whole surface with extra virgin olive oil. Be delicate. If you brush too firmly, you might deflate the risen dough. If any large bubbles show up, you can pop them gently with a pointy skewer. 
20. Sprinkle your spices and salt evenly across the top of the focaccia. Pay attention to the tomatoes--they will taste better with a sprinkle or salt and dried oregano.
21. Bake in the 435F oven for about 15 minutes, or until both bottom and top are lightly browned (check underneath with a metal spatula). The sides should separate from the pan.
22. Slice into 3"x5" strips or 5" rectangular pieces and serve hot, or let cool and serve at room temperature.
23. Keep in a Tupperware in the fridge or wrap in foil (stored at room temp) for eating within 3 days.

You can reheat in a microwave by wrapping with a damp paper towel, then heating for 30 seconds (time depends on the power of your unit). To kick it up a notch, try a fresh drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (we really recommend unfiltered) or an aged balsamic. For a quick lunch, top with a draping of prosciutto. You can also slice focaccia in half and use to make a panino (sandwich) filled with thin sliced colt cuts and cheese or even cooked ingredients like grilled eggplant, tomatoes and mozzarella or roasted vegetables.

Now that you know the basics of making focaccia, consider getting creative, as these examples illustrate. Look for color contrasts, textures and interesting shapes with your choice of toppings. Consider unusual things like asparagus, cauliflower, beets, basil, cilantro, kale, mushrooms, berries, capers, chives, colored course sea salt, and various seeds. Depending on your ingredients, you might have to partially bake your focaccia first with ingredients that can cook during the entire bake time and need to be pressed into the dough. For other things that might burn, like seeds or tender leaves like basil, position on top during later stages of baking.

Be creative and make a masterpiece for a special occasion, or simply make simple focaccia for every day snacks and meals...

Buon appetito!

--Jerry Finzi

Some people called my Dad acting "silly" as a negative, but not me. Anything silly, I love. Something offbeat, oddball, out of the norm, and I'm automatically drawn to it. The time Dad wore vampire teeth at a fancy wedding's cocktail hour was wonderful. My discovery of this interesting pizza is also wonderful: pizza scima ("silly pizza") from the cucina povera traditions of Abruzzo. It's authentic and offbeat.

Why is it called "silly"? To understand the name, we have to get into the evolution of the Abruzzese dialect word "scima". This is an unleavened bread, and the Italian word azzimo (masculine) or azzima (feminine) in Italian means unleavened, referring to any bread that's made without yeast. In dialect the word is ascime. Southern Italians tend to shorten words, in this case the word was simplified to scima (SHEE-ma). Scema in Italian can mean either stupid or silly, perhaps in this case referring to someone silly enough to make bread without leavening...

The history of this pizza evolved from the 13th century Jews who settled in Abruzzo and made unleavened bread. Traditionally it is baked directly on an open wood fired hearth, common in many country homes even today. After coming up to temperature, the wood coals are cleared to the sides and the dough round is placed directly on the brick base. Next, the dough is covered with a 5" tall dark steel coppo (like a large pot cover) and coal embers are placed on top. This baking method is similar to the Colonial American method of baking bread in a cast iron Dutch oven in an open fireplace.

The baking method below tries to mimic the open hearth by baking on a pre-heated pizza stone (to cook the bottom) with a dark pan placed over the top of the pizza (to create a moist, but hot baking environment). You might even try to make this pizza using a baking cloche.

Common in the southern towns of Casoli, Roccascalegna, Altino, Lanciano and San Vito Chietino, this pizza is characterized by the addition of extra virgin olive oil and wine. Each year there is even a pizza scima sagra (food festival) in Casoli.

Ingredients

• 4 cups (or 16 ounces) Italian 00 or All-Purpose flour
• 2/3 cup Extra Virgin olive oil (EVO), preferably unfiltered.
• 2/3 cups of an Abruzzo white wine (i.e., Trebbiano d'Abruzzo or Pecorino)
• 2/3 cups Water (if needed to adjust texture of the dough)
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 cup EVO for coating

Instructions

1. Preheat an oven with either a baking stone on the center rack, or as an alternate, a large, round, dark pan. (The stone or pan must be hot before you place your pizza dough on top for baking). You can also make this pizza on a baking steel, but since a steel heats up faster than a ceramic stone, you will need to check the underside halfway through to make sure it doesn't burn.
2. Sift the flour onto your work surface into a large mound.
3. Create a well in the center of the flour to hold the liquid ingredients.
4. Slowly pour the the wine and extra virgin olive oil into the well, then work the flour into the liquid, pulling flour from the outside.
5. The resulting dough should be shaggy at first, but soft enough to knead. If it looks dry, add a little bit of water. After kneading on the board for a minute or so, it should become soft and pliable enough to form into a ball. It should not be too dry or too sticky.
6. Rest the dough for 30 minutes under a kitchen towel.
7. On a floured surface or, better yet, onto a wooden pizza peel coated with corn meal, use a rolling pin and roll out the dough ball into a circular disk about 3/4" thick.
8. Using either a single edge razor blade, a baker's lame or a very sharp knife, score a diamond pattern into the top of your dough round. Make each diamond shape about 1" to 1-1/2" wide. (If your round is on your work surface, transfer carefully to a pizza peel for transferring to the oven). An alternate method is to use a pizza/pasta wheel to make the pattern. Essentially, these cuts make this a type of pull-apart bread for mopping up sauces or topping, like bruschetta.
9. Using a pastry brush or your bare hands, brush and coat the top of your round with the EVO.
10. If you wish to add a bit more flavor to this authentic version, you can sprinkle the top of the bread with coarse sea salt, rosemary or fennel seeds.
    
11. Slide your dough round either directly onto your baking stone or into your pre-heated pan then cover with a deep baking pan that is deep enough to leave an air space above the pizza.
12. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown.

(NOTE: An alternative method is to bake this pizza in a liberally oiled, dark, cool pan, and then cover with another larger pan.)

Here is a basic recipe for making Pane di San Giuseppe in a braid form...

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup warm milk, 110 degrees F.
• 1 package dry active yeast
• 3 cups bread flour
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon anise seed or 1 teaspoon anise extract
• 1 beaten egg for glaze
• Sesame seeds for topping

Directions

1. Dissolve the yeast into the warm milk and allow to proof until it becomes foamy on top.
2. Place 1 cup of flour and salt into the bowl of your electric mixer and briefly mix well using a dough hook. Then add the yeast mixture and blend at low speed. Scrape down sides as needed.
3. Next, add the melted butter and honey, then mix for a minute or two while adding the eggs, anise seed/extract. 
4. Gradually add more flour, little by little, scraping down sides as needed, then mix on medium until you see strands of gluten developing. Depending on humidity, you might now need all the flour. The dough should be sticky but forming into a rough, sticky ball.
5. Place the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for several minutes, producing a smooth ball of dough.
6. Transfer the dough to an bowl wiped with olive oil. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume.
7. Gently punch the dough down, then place onto lightly floured surface and cut into three equal parts. 
8. Roll each piece of dough into ropes, each about 16-18" long.
9. Place the ropes parallel to each other onto a half sheet baking pan lined with a sheet of parchment. Then gently braid the ropes together, tucking under the ends. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise for another hour.
10. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
11. Once the dough is risen, brush with the beaten egg, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
12. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown and a straw when pierced into the middle of the bread comes out clean.
13. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

--GVI

Acquasala Lucan

Ingredients (serves 2, with one egg each)

• 2 thick slices hearty bread, stale is best (you can also use cubed bread. Ciabatta works well). You can also use rustic croutons that you tossed with olive oil and toasted in the oven ahead of time.   
• 2 large eggs
• 1-1/2 cups  water
• 1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion, finely diced
• 2 small pimentos, chopped roughly (alternate, 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes)           NOTE: For authenticity, use long, dried hot chile peppers, called pepperone crusco in Basilicata.
• 1 small tomato, diced (for more flavor, dice 2 sun-dried tomatoes)
• 4 tablespoons oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Grated or shredded Parmigiano Reggiano or crumbled ricotta salata for topping off the dish.

 
Directions

1. Place the olive oil in a saute pan, then add the onions and cook until translucent.
2. Next, add the pimentos and tomatoes and simmer for 2 minutes
3. Add the water and salt and bring to a gentle boil.
4. As you would do when poaching eggs, crack open each egg and place each gently into the pan, keeping the eggs from touching. Try to keep the whites of each egg from spreading as you drop them into the broth. Simmer the eggs until the whites are cooked through but the yolk is still runny. Remove from heat when done.
5. Place one slice (or cubes) of bread in the center of each of your bowls, then place an egg on top of each.
6. Gently pour the broth over the eggs, using half for each serving.
7. Top off with a dusting of Parmigiano Reggiano, caciocavallo or crumbled ricotta salata. Salt and pepper to taste.

Boun appetito!

--Jerry Finzi

Easter is called Pasqua in Italy, and is a time for celebration and breaking the Lenten fast. In Italy, spring comes early, the weather is wonderful and the scent of flowers blossoming are everywhere. Pasqua is a time for feasting with la famiglia. The Monday after Easter Sunday is a national holiday called Pasquetta (Little Easter), when most businesses close and workers spend the day at home with their family.

There are many types of celebration sweet pane (breads) and savory torte (cakes or tarts) in Italy, many of which made from family recipes handed down from generation to generation--often hundreds of years old. Some are known all over Italy while others are regional or local traditional recipes. One has to keep in mind, however, that even within each region there are variations in these recipes--often changing from town to town or family to family. Just keep in mind, it's all about the feast.

Here are some of the more popular treats with links to their traditional Italian recipes. If you need translations you can always cut and paste the text of each recipe into Google Translate (or better yet, install a translation plug-in into your browser to do it automatically).

Enjoy... and Buona Pasqua!

You might also be interested in...

Our Pane di Pasqua Recipe
Vintage Italian Easter Cards
Decorated Italian Easter Eggs
How Italians Celebrate Easter
Celebrating Easter in Italy

During the Christmas Holidays--even in the States--panettone and pandoro are both in plentiful supply, even in large supermarket chains. In fact, I bought several imported pandoro and panettone (they store and freeze well) two days after Christmas for under $5 each!

Pandoro literally means golden bread, and lends itself to making a tree shape because of its fluted sides. To make a tree shape, simply cut 3/4 - 1" thick slices, ensuring that each slice is cut as flat as possible to prevent your "tree" from leaning when re-assembling later. A very sharp chef's knife is better than a serrated bread knife which would create too many crumbs.

You will be filling each layer and re-assembling by alternating the position of each layer to position its points in between the points of the layers below them. Keep track of the orientation of the layers and re-assemble to keep your "tree" from leaning--flipping them upside and to the side after cutting each helps keep them in order.

To make ours, I brushed each layer with a coating of heated and softened seedless red raspberry jam, then willed each layer with some vanilla custard, the same recipe I use when I make pasticiotti. You can also fill them with zabaglione, butter cream, or a store-bought vanilla, or other flavored pudding mix.

I held back a bit of the custard and placed it into a piping bag with a fluted tip, then piped rosettes around the tiers of the assembled panettone tree, placing a blackberry on each. You can use fresh blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or pitted cherries. Top the cake with more piped custard and berries, or place a star-shaped Christmas cookie standing up.  Powdered sugar adds a dusting of "snow" to make it look really festive.

Traditionally, you make tall sliced wedges for each serving and lay them on their side in a dessert plate.

Vanilla Custard Recipe

While French style egg custards can be difficult to master, this is a very easy custard due to the fact that the cornstarch is the thickening agent. This recipe can be used for many pastry treats that utilize a custard as a bed for berries.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1 - 1/2 cup whole milk or Half & Half
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon butter

Directions
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cornstarch and sugar.
Whisk in the milk and egg yolks.
Place the saucepan on medium heat, stirring with either whisk or spatula until the custard starts to thicken.
Add the vanilla extract and butter and stir until creamy, thick and smooth.
Transfer to a bowl to cool, covering the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.

Spread melted seedless on each layer of your pandoro and then spread on a layer of custard. Do this for each payer as you re-assemble your "tree". Pipe rosettes as described above and place your berries. Dust with powdered sugar.

Buon Natale!

--Jerry Finzi

Ancient Sardinians had a saying: Chie hat pane, mai no morit (who has bread, will never die). This is true for most of the world. Pane Carasau is one of the ancient breads they were talking about. You can imagine the ancients making this bread because of its long storage capabilities and portability. 

It is a a very thin flat bread--some might call a cracker--that was traditionally made for shepherds by the housewives to carry with them for long months on high pastures with their flocks. They can be eaten with sausage and cheese, or dipped in milk to re-hydrate for colazione and drizzled with honey or jam. Pane Frattau is a soup made with shards of Pane Carasau, meat, eggs, cheese and tomato. Modern Sardinian chefs are also using pane carasau in their recipes, for instance, carasau lasagna.

The tedious method by which is is made creates a thin, crispy bread that will last literally for months, even if it happens to crack into shards along their travels. There are some who refer to this flatbread as carte della musica (music sheets) because of its thinness.
 
The dough itself is fairly simple: durum wheat, yeast, water and salt. It's rolled into extremely thin rounds and baked in a wood oven until the bread puffs up like a balloon, then quickly (with dexterity, not to get steam-burned) cut into two halves, making it even thinner. They are then toasted again in the oven and dried completely. Nowadays, in Italy you might even come across packaged Pane Carasau in supermarkets.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 Cups Semolina Flour (Durham)
• 1 teaspoon, Active Dry Yeast
• 1 1/2 Cups Warm Water (Approximate, depending on humidity)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

The best results are achieved in a wood pizza oven, but you can use a baking steel (this holds heat better than a baking stone). Place the steel on the bottom rack (with all others removed) in an oven, the preheat to its maximum temperature (typically 550 F). If you want to use a baking stone, the cook time will be slightly shorter. You might also benefit by having a thin, metal pizza peel to remove your  pane carasau from the oven.
Directions

1. Place the baking steel into your oven and preheat to maximum temperature.
2. In a 2 cup measuring cup or small bowl, dissolve the yeast, sugar and all the water,  then proof for about 15 minutes.
3. In a stand mixer, at first combine the all-purpose flour with salt.
4. Mixing on low speed, add the yeast mixture to the flour.
5. Mixing at a low speed, add 1/4 cup at a time of the bread flour until the dough climbs the dough hook, then knead briefly into a smooth ball on a lightly floured surface.
6. Place into an oiled bowl and cover with a damp, cotton kitchen towel until doubled.
7. Knead the dough for a second time on a lightly flowered surface for 2-3 minutes, them place back into the bowl for one more hour.
8. Place the dough ball onto a lightly floured surface and cut into four equal pieces.
9. Roll each into a long cylinder about 2'3" thick, then cutting each into small segments, each one about the side of a small dinner roll.
   
10. With cupped hands, roll each segment into a ball shape.
    
11. Using a straight rolling pin, roll out each round as thin as possible, about the size of a dinner plate.
    
12. Since each one is baked separately, it's best to get help from other members of your family:  One person is responsible for rolling out the flat rounds; The baker will be responsible for placing them into the oven onto the steel (or stone), keeping a watch on them as they bake, turning them over when puffed up, and removing them; A third person is needed to cut them in half with a very sharp paring knife and stack them before toasting in the oven a second time (which can be done after all have been cut and stacked.)
    
13. The time it takes to bake your pane carasau depends on your oven. Obviously, in a 900 degree+ wood pizza oven, they will cook in less than a minute. In a 550 F oven with a baking steel, this might take 2-3 minutes. Using a baking stone, it might take a bit longer. This is the type of baking you need to keep a constant eye on, flipping over the ballooning breads briefly before removing them for cutting. I recommend studying how this is done in the video below. 
    
14. 
    
15. Remove, brush lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh chopped rosemary and salt and return to the oven for a few minutes.
    
16. Let sit until cool enough to handle, then break into large pieces.
17. Serve warm.

Summer is in full swing, and with Italy currently in the midst of a full blown heatwave, here is an idea from southern Italy that will help you beat the heat...
Brioche Gelato Burgers!

More and more popular in Sicily, Puglia and Calabria, the trend is catching on. In the last several years, the sweet, glossy brioche bun has gained popularity in the States, used as the go-to bun for burgers and sliders. But the sweet, soft crumb of the classic brioche also pairs well with gelato (OK, and ice cream, too). Grilling the sliced brioche helps raise the flavor a notch. Toppings or spreads can include, crushed pistachios or sliced almonds, Nutella,  Pirouettes crackers, almond biscotti crumbs, whipped cream or zabaglione, or a smear of almond paste. How about a trio of gelato sliders? To add crunch, tuck a pizzelle inside!

Stay cool!

--GVI