Traditional Italian flatbread: recipe

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Focaccia is a traditional Italian flatbread in the form of yeast wheat flat bread, buttered and sprinkled with spices, chopped olives, onions, coarse s alt and even different types of nuts. The product is usually used to make a sandwich with cold or hot filling. Focaccia can be fried in a toaster, grill or in a regular frying pan.

Pizza progenitor

The emergence of the Italian flatbread must be attributed to Ancient Rome. In antiquity, the product was baked in the center of the dwelling on an open fire called focus. At that time, people had no idea about yeast, so affordable and cheap ingredients were added to the dough in the form of flour, s alt, water and olive oil. Subsequently, these components became mandatory in cooking.

Historians believe that focaccia is the ancestor of pizza, a kind of poor version of it. If initially all of the above products were used in the preparation of the product, then over time the number of ingredients increased. For example, the Romans put in crispyItalian tortilla everything that was in the house, from olives to cheeses. But thanks to the poor and the villagers, focaccia came to us with almost the original recipe, since they simply had nothing to supplement it with.

Own traditions

Now the crispy Italian bread product is found in any form, has different thicknesses and fillings. Separately, it is worth talking about the formation of the surface of the cake. First, small indentations are made in the shaped dough with your fingers, and the focaccia itself is generously smeared with olive oil mixed with spices, which, after baking, are collected in these "dimples" and thereby add flavor and prevent drying.

Each region has its own recipe for Italian flatbread:

• Focaccia "Barese" cooked with potatoes or fresh tomatoes;
• Genovese - with red onion and olive oil;
• "Di Recco" - cheese cake;
• "Veneta" is named after the region of the same name and is a sweet version of the product.

7 secrets to perfect focaccia

1. For beginners, it is advisable to train on a round cake, as it is easier to mold and stretch. A minimum of touches - a guarantee of lush dough with bubbles.
2. After transferring to the form, the semi-finished flour product should rise again.
3. Lubricate the mold not with sunflower oil, but with olive oil. During the baking process, the cake will absorb the ingredient and become more delicious, fragrant and crispy.
4. For lush focaccia, water should be takenmineral. The dough will be runny, but will cook to perfection.
5. Pay special attention to the temperature of the water - ideally it should be lukewarm. Hot stops fermentation, cold slows it down.
6. To prevent drying out, use an oil emulsion with s alt and water instead of 100% butter during baking.
7. For aroma, it is recommended to pour chopped sage and basil into the recess.

Classic Italian flatbread recipe

Ideally, fragrant bread is wood-fired in a stone oven, and in addition to sandwiches, it is served with meat dishes, hot or cold appetizers, soups and salads.

Cooking technology:

1. In 200 g of flour, add 50 ml of olive oil, gradually pouring in the required amount of cold water, knead the dough and wrap in cling film. Take away for an hour.
2. Divide the finished flour semi-finished product in half and roll a ball from each part.
3. After 5 minutes, roll the dough into flat cakes.
4. Preheat oven to high.
5. 250 g goat cheese cut into small cubes, spread on one of the flatbreads, cover the second and pinch the edges.
6. Poke a few holes on the cake with your finger.
7. Smear the surface with 50 ml of olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. s alt.
8. Bake over high heat for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Garlic focaccia

To prepare an Italian flatbread with a characteristic aroma, you need:

1. In a small bowl, combine 7 g of yeast, a teaspoon of sugar and flour. Pour in 3/4 cup of lukewarm water. Remove for 10 minutes until foam appears, after covering with cling film.
2. In 2 1/3 cups of flour, sprinkle a teaspoon of s alt. Add 3 crushed garlic cloves and mix the mass with a knife. Pour the prepared dough and 2 tbsp into the hole made in the center of the flour mixture. l. olive oil. Mix the ingredients with a metal spoon until a dense dough is obtained.
3. Knead ready-made semi-finished flour on a floured table for about 10 minutes. At the end, form a ball and place in a deep bowl, greased with oil. Cover the bowl with cling film and wait for the dough to rise.
4. After about 40 minutes, turn on the oven, sprinkle the bottom of the prepared shallow form with a spoonful of semolina.
5. As soon as the semi-finished flour product rises, it must be kneaded for another 2 minutes until it becomes smooth.
6. Put the dough into a mold and make deep holes on the surface, sprinkle with water and bake for 10 minutes. Repeat the procedure and put it back in the oven for the same amount of time.
7. After 10 minutes, brush an Italian flatbread with 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with 2 tsp sea s alt.
8. Bake 5 minutes.

Filling options for the previous recipe

The above focaccia variant can be prepared with additional ingredients:

1. With cheese and chives. At the second stage, add finely grated parmesan (1/3 cup) to the mixture andchopped onion (1/4 cup).
2. With cheese and bacon. After making holes in the surface of the Italian tortilla, sprinkle it with the following mixture: 1/3 cup grated cheddar and a few finely chopped bacon slices. You can also add one chopped onion. Focaccia is baked according to the recipe, only without sprinkling water.
3. With anchovies, olives and capsicum. Lubricate the holes made in the cake with a mixture consisting of half a glass of finely chopped olives, 1/2 chopped pepper and 50 g of chopped anchovies. Bake according to recipe, but do not drizzle.

Focaccia with onions and olives

Another recipe for making Italian bread with a bit of sophisticated technology:

1. Preheat the oven to 210 degrees at the initial stage and grease the mold with vegetable oil.
2. Heat a spoonful of olive oil and fry 2 thinly sliced medium onions until golden, cool.
3. In a bowl, mix a teaspoon of sugar and half a glass of milk. Pour in 15 g of yeast.
4. In a separate bowl, mix 2 tbsp. regular and 3 tbsp. wholemeal flour. Add 1 tbsp. l. cumin.
5. After 5 minutes, add 1/2 cup olive oil, beaten egg and 1 3/4 cup warm water to the yeast mixture. Add the resulting mixture to the flour ingredients and knead the sticky dough.
6. Distribute the semi-finished product in shape, and smooth the surface with oiled hands.
7. Pressing firmly on top, sprinkle with fried onions and 1 cup choppedolives.
8. Bake the focaccia at 210 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Italian tortilla stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes recipe

You can take dough from previous technologies as a basis, and then follow the instructions:

1. When the dough has doubled in size, add 10 pcs. chopped sun-dried tomatoes and knead thoroughly.
2. Distribute the resulting workpiece with your hands on a greased baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and leave for a quarter of an hour.
3. Bake in a well preheated oven for about 15 minutes.

Fragrant focaccia with rosemary

Only 3 ingredients, 30 minutes of time and in front of you is a crispy cake with a pleasant spicy smell (take the dough from the previous recipe as a base):

1. Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil and roll out 300 g of dough on it, making the edges a little thicker. Brush the surface with olive oil (100 ml).
2. Finely chop a sprig of rosemary and sprinkle on top of the semi-finished product.
3. Bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees.

It seems that Italian flat bread has no flaws - the recipe is based on available products, the technology is simple, which means it's time to run to the kitchen and cook an overseas flatbread at home.