Name: Better than pizza? Authentic Italian focaccia
Uploaded: 2026-01-14T16:17:19.861Z
Duration: 4 min 31 s
Description: Focaccia is more than just bread. Baked with olive oil and topped with tomatoes or rosemary, focaccia is a staple of Italian cuisine.

Focaccia is more than just bread. Baked with olive oil and topped with tomatoes or rosemary, focaccia is a staple of Italian cuisine.

Rome

The video explores the cultural and culinary significance of focaccia in Italy, particularly in Genoa, where it is considered a staple of daily life. Luca Travalini, a baker from Panificio Patrone, demonstrates the traditional process of making focaccia, emphasizing its simple ingredients—yeast, flour, water, salt, and olive oil—and the importance of technique and tradition.

Focaccia is distinguished from bread and pizza by its aromatic, moist texture and generous use of olive oil. The video traces its history back over 2,000 years and showcases its versatility, being enjoyed at any time of day, sometimes even dipped in coffee for breakfast. The segment concludes by inviting viewers to consider their own preferences for eating focaccia.

Better than pizza? Authentic Italian focaccia

Focaccia is Italy's true national dish. Don't believe it? Think pizza is Italy's culinary showpiece? Okay, pizza is popular worldwide, but focaccia is the secret heartbeat of Italian cuisine and is served up every day. Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, glistening with olive oil. What's different about focaccia from Genoa compared to pizza is that we eat it all the time, from breakfast to dinner. For breakfast? Dunked in coffee? In this video, we reveal the secret of authentic focaccia, show you the best way to eat it, and tell you what you need to know when preparing it. Focaccia is not bread and it's not pizza. It's a unique, typical Genoese product. Baking focaccia is simple, but it takes a lot of love. That's how it's done every day throughout Italy, not just here in Genoa. You can buy it on every street corner in many different variations. Today we're visiting one of many historic bakeries. Focaccia has been baked here for more than a century, and for the last 25 years, by Luca Travalini and his family. Hi, I'm Luca. We're at the Panificio Patrone in Genoa. I'll show you how to make focaccia from here. Focaccia dough is made with just a few ingredients, yeast, flour, water and salt, and very important, plenty of olive oil. The dough is kneaded for about 10 minutes before Luca checks its consistency. Good, almost transparent. I'm very proud to be part of this group of people passing on the tradition of focaccia. Above all, to make Genoa known to more people around the world, and also to keep alive a tradition that's been going on since the 1500s. Focaccia is the precursor to pizza, and was already known in Rome more than 2,000 years ago. Luca prepares the individual servings. The dough needs to rest before baking. Focaccia takes its name from the Latin word focus, meaning half. In the past, it was baked on hot stones, but these days it's baked on a greased baking sheet in the oven. So what's the difference between focaccia and normal bread? The difference between bread and focaccia is that focaccia is much more aromatic. We also make types of bread that are similar to focaccia, but they're still bread because bread is drier and has less flavor of its own. Focaccia, on the other hand, is lighter, saltier and moister. We simply add more water to the dough than we do for bread. The dough has now risen for a good hour, and it's time to prepare the focaccia for baking, with perhaps the most important ingredient, the best olive oil. The Ligurian people are proud of their olive oil. Although relatively little is produced here, it's of especially high quality. Time for the focaccia to go into the oven. The focaccia needs about 12 minutes. What makes Genoese focaccia, especially ours, so special is its crispy, golden-brown upper crust. The bottom is well-baked, but the inside should be nice and soft and melt in your mouth when you chew it. As soon as the focaccia comes out of the oven, it begins its journey into daily Italian life. Hardly anything else is eaten as often and as eagerly in Italy. Some like the simple and classic focaccia Genovese, while others prefer it generously topped. It's eaten in the evening, or in the evening, when it's not too hot to eat, and when it's not too cold to eat. Some like the simple and classic focaccia Genovese, while others prefer it generously topped. It's eaten in the evening, as a snack between meals, or even dipped in coffee for breakfast. What do you think? Dunking focaccia in coffee, great idea or no way?

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