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Recipe: Focaccia Bread with Sweet Onions and Olive Oil

Focaccia (Italian pronunciation: [fo?katt?a]) is a flat oven-baked Italian bread,which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients. It is related to pizza, but not considered to be the same.

Focaccia is popular in Italy and is usually seasoned with olive oil and salt, and sometimes herbs, and may be topped with onion, cheese and meat, or flavoured with a number of vegetables.

Focaccia doughs are similar in style and texture to pizza doughs, consisting of high-gluten flour, oil, water,salt and yeast. It is typically rolled out or pressed by hand into a thick layer of dough and then baked in astone-bottom or hearth oven. Bakers often puncture the bread with a knife to relieve bubbling on the surface of the bread.

Also common is the practice of dotting the bread. This creates multiple wells in the bread by using a finger or the handle of a utensil to poke the unbaked dough. As a way to preserve moisture in the bread, olive oil is then spread over the dough, by hand or with a pastry brush prior to rising and baking. In the northern part of Italy, lard will sometimes be added to the dough, giving the focaccia a softer, slightly flakier texture. Focaccia recipes are widely available, and with the popularity of bread machines, many cookbooks now provide versions of dough recipes that do not require hand kneading.

Focaccia can be used as a side to many meals, as a base for pizza, or as sandwich bread.

In ancient Rome, panis focacius was a flat bread baked in the ashes of the fireplace. The word is derived from the Latin focus meaning “centre” and also “fireplace” – the fireplace being in the centre of the house. In American-English, it is sometimes referred to as focaccia bread. As the tradition spread, the different dialects and diverse local ingredients resulted in a large variety of bread (some may even be considered cake).

The basic recipe is thought by some to have originated with the Etruscans or ancient Greeks, but today it is widely associated with Ligurian cuisine.

Due to the number of small towns and hamlets dotting the coast of Liguria, the focaccia recipe has fragmented into countless variations (from the biscuit-hard focaccia of Camogli to the oily softness of the one made in Voltri), with some bearing little resemblance to its original form. The most extreme example is the specialty “focaccia col formaggio” (focaccia with cheese) which is made in Recco, near Genoa. Other than the name, this Recco version bears no resemblance to other focaccia varieties, having a caillé and cheese filling sandwiched between two layers of paper-thin dough. Regional variations also exist, such as focaccia dolce (sweet focaccia), popular in some parts of north-western Italy, consisting of a basic focaccia base and sprinkled lightly with sugar, or including raisins,honey, or other sweet ingredients.

Another widespread variation is the Focaccia Barese, common in the provinces of Bari, Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto. It usually comes in three variations: classic focaccia with fresh tomatoes and olives,potato focaccia with potato slices 5 mm thick and white Focaccia with salt grains and rosemary. Some other variations include peppers, onions, eggplant or other vegetables. One regional variant, from the city of Recco, is even being considered for European Union PGI status.

In Burgundy, focaccia is called “foisse” or “fouaisse”, and in Catalonia, Provence and Languedoc it’s “fogassa” or, more commonly, the French “fougasse”. In Argentina, it is widely consumed under the name fugazza, derived from fugàssa in the native language of Argentina’s many Ligurian immigrants. The Spaniards call it “hogaza”. Focaccia is present in many variants in Italy itself, for example thefocaccia alla genovese, originated in Genoa, the focaccia alla barese, from Bari, or the focaccia alla messinese, from Messina. The Sicilian-style pizza, and the Roman pizza bianca (white pizza) must also be considered to be a variant of focaccia. Focaccia is used extensively as a sandwich bread outside of Italy.

This is a simple dish — easy to assemble, and makes an easy-yet-delectable meal when served with a simple salad.

1/4 cup olive oil
1 sweet onion, halved, then sliced into half rings.
6 green onions, chopped (all of the white and pale green portions)
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 (141/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled
Scant 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and white pepper to taste
1 (8- or 9-inch round focaccia bread (I use the ones marketed in a “brown ‘n serve” form, which are distributed nationally through most supermarkets)
11/2 cups coarsely grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

In a skillet, heat the oil and saute the sweet onions, green onions and garlic just until the onions have softened and are beginning to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes (with their juice), basil, oregano, thyme and red pepper flakes,and simmer until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Adjust the seasonings, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Place the loaf of focaccia in the cake pan. Spread half the onion mixture on top of the loaf, making sure it gets down into all of the holes on the surface. Sprinkle with half the Cheddar and Parmesan. Top with the remaining onion mixture, then sprinkle with the remaining Cheddar and Parmesan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top is beautifully browned and bubbly. Remove from the oven and let the loaf rest for about 5 minutes before removing it from the pan and cutting it into serving-size wedges.

ADAPTATIONS ABOUND: To the onion mixture, add any number of chopped vegetables, such as Anaheim chiles, celery, sliced olives or mushrooms; cooked sausage also is a great topping.