Focaccia Alla Genovese

My Italian roots are so important to me, and Focaccia Alla Genovese is the perfect bread to honor that. If you are interested in testing your baking skills, this is a fun bread to try. I used the recipe from “The Italian Baker” by Carol Field for my base recipe.

What makes Focaccia Alla Genovese so special?

Once you get the base recipe down, you can add so many different toppings, and it is a great way to experiment to get more comfortable with your baking. The toppings I used are: 1)Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Sea Salt, 2)Sliced Campari Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Sea Salt, and 3)Castelvetrano Olives, Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Sea Salt

My experience making Focaccia Alla Genovese

All in all, this recipe was easy to follow. There was one key thing that came up I think it is important to share because it points to something that is so important in baking – be flexible and ready to adapt, if needed.

What Happened?
- As I was mixing the dough before the first prove, it did not come together right away, as it outlined in the recipe.
Why did this happen?
- It called for an extra tablespoon of water if the dough does not come together. However, I needed more, so I added a tablespoon at a time until it resulted in the texture that was described
- Sometimes the measurements will vary slightly depending on a few factors
  - Temperature in your workspace/home
  - How you are measuring your ingredients – in this case flour. Weighing your dry ingredients always provides the most accurate measurement, but that is not always possible since most of us measure with measuring cups
What did I Learn?
- Patience is so important in baking!
- If things don’t seem like they are going exactly as they should, take a breath, take a step back (maybe take a sip of wine) and then reassess
- For my case with this one, the dough was just a little too dry and could not come together. Adding a little water at a time made all the difference and allowed me to see the dough adjust as I added even just a small amount of one ingredient.
What equipment did I use?
- KitchenAid Mixer (you do not need this to make the bread – there are both mixer and by hand instructions in the book)
- Rolling pin
- Spatula
- Dry Measuring Cups
- Liquid Measuring Cup
- Measuring Spoons
- Silicone basting brush
- Three 9-10 inch plates (used to house bread dough as it proved)
- Baking sheet
- Wire rack (for cooling)

What can you eat with Focaccia bread?

You can certainly make this bread and enjoy it on its own. It is that good! Given the thickness of this bread it also works perfectly as a sandwich bread or pairs well with soup, such as my Easy Tortellini Soup.

Important things to know

Focaccia bread lasts fresh for approximately 2-3 days
It can be stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Either way, the best way to store this bread is by wrapping it in plastic wrap and then putting it into a Ziploc freezer bag.
Want to eat your Foccacia bread warm the next day?
- Preheat your oven to 350F and warm your bread in the oven for 3-5 minutes