Focaccia

Liguria’s olive-oil bread

Focaccia is a Ligurian specialty — the city of Genoa is its most famous home, and the regional version is focaccia genovese: thin, crisp on the bottom, soft inside, salty, with deep dimples that pool olive oil. Outside Liguria, focaccia diverges into thicker, breadier styles found across Italy.

The dimples are functional

Pressing fingertips into the proofed dough creates the iconic dimpled surface — but more importantly, the dimples form wells that hold olive oil and salt during baking. Without dimples, oil would slide off and the surface would dry. The dimpling is done after the second rise, immediately before topping and baking.

High hydration is the secret

A real focaccia dough is wet — typically 75-85% hydration (water-to-flour ratio). Wet dough produces an open airy crumb with large irregular bubbles. It’s harder to handle than firm dough; many home bakers use the no-knead technique with overnight refrigerator proofs instead of trying to hand-knead a wet sticky mass.

Variations from Italy

• Focaccia genovese — thin, salty, plain or with rosemary; the classic.
• Focaccia di Recco — paper-thin layered focaccia stuffed with stracchino cheese; one of Italy’s protected food specialties.
• Focaccia barese (Puglia) — thicker, topped with tomatoes, olives, and oregano.
• Schiacciata (Tuscany) — almost identical bread under a different name.

Beyond bread, into sandwiches

Cut horizontally and split, focaccia makes excellent sandwich bread — its olive-oil flavor and chewy texture work especially well with cured meats, fresh mozzarella, and roasted vegetables. The Italian focaccia farcita tradition is essentially this: focaccia as the base of a stuffed sandwich.