Focaccia in Genoa is ubiquitous. It is in our life from sunrise to sunset. We soak it in the cappuccino for breakfast (yes, we do, and it’s incredibly good), we give it to our children as a snack at school, at lunch goes hand in hand with bread in the basket, it is offered at parties and finally with a glass of white wine for aperitivo.
In the Middle Ages it was the convivial bread par excellence. It was eaten in church during marriages and then also during funerals (which in the long run annoyed the clergy that ended up forbidding its consumption in church).
In Genoa, focaccia sells like hot-cakes. Everybody buy at least a slice of focaccia together with their daily bread. The bakeries bake it from the very first hours of the morning and continue nonstop until mid-afternoon. Because Genoese focaccia gives its best freshly baked – ephemeral, like all good things, it does not remain fragrant more than one day – and Genoeses know this so they can wait silently in the store even 10 minutes to put their hands on a piece of focaccia sizzling with oil. Then normally less than a half will arrive at home because the rest will be devoured – more or less consciously – along the way, thanks to the fact that the bag, if the focaccia is hot, must remain open otherwise it soften, and you can imagine the scent that goes up straight to the nostrils…
Since every bakery, pizza shop, bar or sciamadda(typical Genoese gastronomy) in Genoa sells Genoese focaccia, how to recognize a good one? If you buy it in a bakery, in the early in the morning and still hot you are already on track. But you can recognize perfect focaccia because it is thin (maximum 2 cm thick), it is studded with holes (called “œggi”, eyes) with a white and creamy center (the cream is formed by flour, water, salt and oil that are poured on the surface just before the oven), it is golden and bright with oil (focaccia must almost leak oil), it is crispy outside and soft inside, salted on the surface and never sour (which happens if it is kneaded with poor olive oil).
Then there are variations on the theme, such as focaccia with onions (attention it creates dependence… and keeps people away), the one with sage or with rosemary and the one with olives. Then each bakery indulges on topping as they please, so there are focaccia with cherry tomatoes, others with various vegetables and so on.
The focaccia di Recco, instead, is a different product: it’s a savory pie typical of Recco (a small village on the coast close to Genoa) made of two very thin layers of unleavened dough containing a local fresh cheese melted.
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The recipe of Genoese focaccia
If you have the right recipe, you can make a good Genoese focaccia also at home. It is important to follow the procedure step by step, to respect the various stages of leavening and to use an appropriate pan according to the amount of dough to bake. In the recipe below the ingredients are calculated to obtain a dough to be rolled into a rectangular aluminum pan with low sides measuring 30×40 cm.
But first some practical tips:
- the oil: I prefer not to use extra virgin olive oil (I know it sounds strange) which has a too marked flavor and risks to alter the final taste. It is better to use a good Italian olive oil and then brush the focaccia only once cooked with extra virgin olive oil.
- the holes: you shall made them using the fingertips of the three central fingers of your hand. The pressure must be marked (without breaking the dough, however) and as much as possible parallel to the surface. They must be many and very close to each other.
- leavening: always cover the dough with transparent film during leavening to avoid the surface getting dry.
- brine: the secret of Genoese focaccia is the emulsion of oil, water and salt that you spread abundantly on the surface before the last leavening. Do not worry if it seems a lot, it will evaporate during cooking and allow the holes to remain during cooking.
Genoese focaccia: the perfect recipe
Ingredients
- 370 g flour
- 180 g of lukewarm water
- 7 g of salt
- 6 g of malt
- 8 g of brewer's yeast
- 18 g of olive oil
- 25 g of oil to grease the pan
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil to brush the cooked focaccia
Instructions
- Pour flour, malt, salt and water (keeping about 5% to be added at the end of the dough) into the bowl of the kneading machine. Knead for five minutes at low speed.
- Add the crumbled brewer's yeast and, once incorporated, add the oil, always stirring at low speed.
- Once you have incorporated the oil (maybe you have use your hands) add the water left aside and continue to knead at medium speed for 6/7 minutes. The dough is perfect when pulling it by a flap is very elastic and difficult to tear.
- Pour the dough on the work surface, give a fold, form a slightly flattened rectangle and let it rest for 30 minutes on a floured board with the fold facing down covered with transparent film so that it does not dry on the surface and with a tea towel on top to keep it warm.
- After 30 minutes grease a rectangular baking pan (30 cm x 40 c) with 25 g of olive oil, roll the dough with a rolling pin taking care to keep the same shape of the pan but slightly smaller and then transfer the dough inside the pan (it should cover an area of about 70% of the pan).
- Let it raise for 30 minutes, always covered with transparent film. Then stretch the dough until you cover the entire surface of the pan leaving no edge free and taking care to eliminate various air bubbles below the dough.
- Let it rise again for 60 minutes, always covered with a transparent film.
- Dust abundantly with flour and make deep holes well close to each other using your fingertips (exclude the thumb and little finger and try to keep the palm of the hand as much as possible facing the surface).
- Pour 20 g of olive oil on the surface and 10/15 g of warm salted water (with 5% saline solution i.e. 5 g salt per 100 cc of water). Mix water and oil well with your fingers covering any area of the surface being careful that the water does not go under the surface.
- Let it rise for additional 60 minutes under a film in a warm place.
- Pre-heat the oven to 230°C (450°F) and bake for 15 minutes.
- As soon as the surface is golden remove the focaccia from the oven, turn it upside down, pull out of the pan and brush the bottom and the crust with extra-virgin olive oil.
- Let it cool on a cooling rack to keep it crispy.
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Where to eat the best focaccia in Genoa?
Here are some bakeries in the center of Genoa whose Genoese focaccia – on my humble opinion – is worth trying. Then the last word is up to your taste!
In the historic center area:
- Focaccia e Dintorni (via Canneto il Curto 54-56)
- Panificio Claretta (via della Posta Vecchia 12)
- Antico forno della Casana (Vico della Casana 17 r)
- Antico Forno Patrone (via Ravecca 72r),
Mercato Orientale area:
- Panificio da Mario (Via San Vincenzo 61r)
- Panificio Santa Rita (via Colombo 40)
On the way to Principe train station
- Le Bontà del Grano (piazza del Carmine 11r)
Happy focaccia to everyone!
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36 Comments
Hello, I am in the USA. What is malt?
Grazie!
Hello! Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as “malting”. The syrup is used in bakery in lieu of sugar/honey to improve the bread raising.Happy baking!!
I made this tonight, and lacking malt used an equal amount of sugar. It was the best focaccia I’ve ever made! Thank you so much for the recipe, I will make it again. My husband loved it too!
Thank you Susan for trying my focaccia! I’m very happy it was a success. You did well, in lack on malt sugar is a perfect substitute. All best!
[…] in the kitchen, opened with the Liguria extra virgin olive oil (yeeee!). Then Samin cooked our focaccia and our superb pesto, considered as a perfect example of how three different types of fat (oil, […]
Thank you for this recipe, it’s perfect! I pureed green olives and added them to the salt brine, and also added rosemary to the dough. It was sooooo delicious! Looking forward to more experiments with this amazing recipe. 🙂
Hello Adria, thank you for cooking my focaccia! Your variations too looks amazing!
Mmmm, this focaccia is so good! Crispy on the outside, almost creamy on the inside, perfectly salty…I am going to have to make it again soon! Thank you for this recipe and for sharing delightful insights to Genoese culture and cooking.
Thank you Kathleen, happy you tried my recipe and liked it!
[…] indeed can be historically considered the cuddle of street food): bakeries where to taste focaccia, sciamadde where to taste savory pies, focaccia al formaggio (cheese pie) […]
Hi, I’m going to try your recipe today. I have regular (fresh) yeast and powdered (dry) yeast and I’m not sure which one your recipe calls for?
Hello Renata! Thank you for trying my recipe!! Yes, fresh yeast is what the recipe provides for . Let me know the outcome!
Hello – what flour do you use for this recipe? Thanks!
Hello!Thank you for reading and commenting!!
I use a 00 flour, a refined flour with a high quantity of gluten inside.
Happy baking!
[…] We arrived in Via Garibaldi, I took them inside the courtyard of Palazzo Lomellino (it was out of their program, but I insisted) and then we “went down” from Macelli di Soziglia to taste a bit of Genoese caruggi (the narrow alleys of our historic center) and a slice of freshly baked focaccia. […]
[…] If you want to order focaccia like a local ask for “una fetta di focaccia”. If after tasting focaccia you fancy trying to bake it at home, here you find my genoese focaccia recipe. […]
[…] I started with the “quick” recipe, the one you prepare straightforward in about four hours with the so-called “direct method”. You can find it in my post “Genoese Focaccia, the perfect recipe” […]
I’ve tried countless focaccia recipes and this is the definitely the best, and closest to what I had in Genova!
My husband is Genovese and the one thing he misses the most about Genova is focaccia. We could never find anything close to Genovese focaccia here in San Francisco. He was happy like a little boy when this focaccia came out of the oven. We finished the entire sheet pan of focaccia in the 10 mins
I will also try the indirect method next week and am excited to see if that recipe is even better.
Grazie!
Thank you!!! You made my day. You husband test is very important to me 🙂 . You will see that the indirect method makes the focaccia even better!
Hey, your recipe looks amazing. I had traveled to Genoa a year ago and have been trying to make some decent focaccia at home. When you say brewers yeast, do you mean active yeast used to brew beer, or the inactive supplement. And is the malt the liquid form or dry? Thanks for your time!
Hello Ryan brewrs yeast if Active dry yeast. Malt is liquid, its kinda corn syrup, but you can use tasteless clear honey as substitute! Thank you for trying our my recipe!!
Can you make a focaccia with onion?
Hi again!
What happend if you don’t dust it with flour when it is in the pan, what is the meaning?:)
And, if I want to make 2 pans of focaccia, do i doble everything?
And, can I let it rise it the oven on low heat?
[…] ihre Verwandtschaft zur südfranzösischen fougasse manifestiert, unzählige Hausrezepte. Das von A Small Kitchen in Genoa kommt mir besonders pur und typisch vor. Plant man die Focaccia als Brot zu anderen Gerichten, ist […]
Hi! I was born in Camaiore but live in Los Angeles and this bread looks exactly like the focaccia I ate as a child and only dream about as an adult! We called it schieciata. I can’t wait to make it.. I’ve never made it with malt – is it a syrup or malt powder?
i just tried your recipe and it has turned out pretty well – but I am a little confused on the measurements. How much is 180 g of lukewarm water – liquid is measured in ml (or cups if you are American!). Otherwise i love your website – missing Italy so much this year.
“Lievito di birra” translated as brewer’s yeast in this recipe is fresh yeast, also known as compressed or cake yeast. It’s the kind sold in tiny cakes in the refrigerated section of many supermarkets. The quantity needs to be adjusted if using active dry yeast in the USA. To convert from fresh yeast to active dry yeast, multiply the fresh quantity by 0.4. (Therefore, 9 gr x .4 = 3.6 gr of active dry yeast). Has anyone tried to use active dry yeast? If so, how much did you use? I am trying with 3.6. I’ll let you know if it works!
Dear Giovanna, thank you so much for this clarification! Very very helpful!!
Hello! 1 gram of water is 1 ml of water. So 180 grams are 180 ml of water, 0.7 IS cup or 12 tablespoons. Hope this will be of help! Happy cooking and thank you for reading my blog!!
Hello! It’s wheat malt . Both in syrup and in powder. If you cannot find it, you can substitute with honey!
Hello!
dusting with flour when in the pan will create a white cream in the holes whilst cooking. If you want to do two pans (39×49 cm) you have to double the doses.
Finally, let it raise at room temperature in a warm place of your kitchen, around 20-22 degrees will be fine!
Thank you for reading the blog and sorry for the utterly late reply!
Sure!! Cut white 1 big white onion very finely longwise , sprinkle with salt and let it rest for 30 minutes. Add on top the focaccia just before baking.
I used 3.6 grams of active dry yeast instead of fresh cake yeast and it worked perfectly. Great recipe, grazie davvero, è venuta buonissima.
It was perfect with 3.6 gr of active dry yeast. Grazie!!
[…] is Samin’s recipe. I also found another interesting post on this type of Genovese focaccia with another recipe which I’ve yet to […]
[…] a few minutes and it will be as freshly baked. Here in the blog you will find both the recipe for Genovese focaccia with direct method, which is done in about 4 hours, and Genovese focaccia with the indirect method that involves the […]