Taste preferences of different peoples of the world invariably cause great interest. Traveling across countries and continents is almost always accompanied by an introduction to traditional food.
Features of Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine was originally oriented mainly to the tastes of local peasants and fishermen. It contains a large number of various seafood and land, as well as products of lactic acid fermentation. Italian cheeses are a separate topic for a big conversation.
Apennine Peninsula Bread
Italians eat a lot of bread. They know how to bake it like no other in the world. Hard wheat, growing on the mountain slopes of the Apennine Peninsula, has long and deservedly been respected by bakers. They say that each city has its own bread, with its own recipe and name. We come to understand this is not easy. For example, what is focaccia and how does it differ from pizza, crostini or bruschetta, it is difficult for a foreigner who did not live on the Apennines to understand. And although Italian cuisine is now in great fashion, outside the country, even in a restaurant focused on Italian cooking, you can get crostini instead of the ordered bruschetta or pizza instead of focaccia, and in response to legal objections, you can see the waiter's incomprehensible look.
What is focaccia?
Focaccia is bread, flat bread made from yeast or unleavened dough. It can be used to make bruschetta and crostini, or you can eat solo or a little bite with cheese, meat, vegetables, washed down with young grape wine or milk. For bruschetta, the focaccia is cut into portions, heated on charcoal, rubbed with garlic, doused with olive oil, put on top dried tomatoes, baked eggplant, prosciutto ham, carpaccio, cheese, etc. For crostini, it is also cut, but not heated, but not heated, but not heated, but cold, spread with pesto, tomato or other.
Focaccia - thin, 2-3 centimeters, a large flat cake. It can be round or square. Usually done large, over the entire area of the pan. Focaccia bread made from Italian wheat flour is incredibly airy, lush and resilient. It can be compressed to connect the upper and lower crusts, and when released, see how it straightens and takes on its original thickness and appearance.
What does it take to get such a springy and thin focaccia? The recipe is extremely simple. It's all about flour. Italian bread, in particular focaccia, is a baking made from durum wheat flour called durum.
Plain yeast dough focaccia
The following ingredients are required on an average baking sheet measuring 28 x 35 cm:
- wheat flour - 300 g;
- water - 180 ml per dough and 110 ml per baking sheet;
- dry baking yeast - one teaspoon;
- coarse salt - 1 teaspoon;
- refined vegetable oil for greasing bread.
Sift flour twice. Pour flour and yeast into a large non-metallic bowl, stir. Pour water in small parts, stirring all the time until a homogeneous state is achieved. When all the flour is moistened and it is possible to form a ball from the dough (it should be moist and sticky), cover it with a damp towel and place it in a warm place - to the battery or in the oven, heated to 40-45 degrees for 2 hours. Time is relative. The dough may rise poorly or begin to settle ahead of time due to a sharp temperature drop caused by a draft from an open window or door. Yeast activity is also of great importance. Subject to the conditions for two hours, the dough should double in volume. As soon as you notice that it has begun to settle, you can proceed to the next step.
Cover the baking sheet with baking paper and lay the dough on it. Fingers spread over the entire area, cover with a damp towel and leave to rise for another hour. After that, make recesses in the dough and carefully pour all the water on it. Make sure that the water gets into all the holes and spills along the bottom. Sprinkle salt on top. Place a container of water in the oven to evaporate. Bake at maximum temperature for approximately 10 minutes. When the top is browned, grease the focaccia with refined oil and return to the oven. Repeat this action 2-3 times until the bread takes the correct form. The correct type of focaccia is a ruddy upper crust and a light, slightly moist lower part.
Easter bread
The Veneto region gave Italy, and at the same time, sweet focaccia. It is also called Easter.
For cooking you need:
- dry yeast - 2.25 teaspoons;
- water - 1 glass;
- honey - 3 tablespoons;
- wheat flour - 2 cups;
- ground cinnamon - 2 teaspoons;
- salt - half a teaspoon;
- refined vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons;
- half a glass of granulated sugar;
- 2-3 tablespoons of butter.
Mix water, yeast and honey in a glass and place for 10 minutes in a warm place for fermentation. Sift flour into a bowl, add salt, sugar and cinnamon, pour in the foamed yeast mixture and knead the dough. Then cover it with a damp towel and place in a warm place for one and a half to two hours.
When the dough is suitable, that is, it will double in volume and begin to settle, put it on a baking sheet with baking paper laid on the bottom. Spread the dough over the entire surface, let it come again, then form indentations in it and bake in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes.
Remove the finished bread from the oven and let cool for five minutes. During this time, prepare a flip from melted butter, sugar and cinnamon. Lubricate the focaccia with a silicone brush. After ten minutes, sprinkle with cinnamon again.
What else is focaccia?
Focaccia is a bread from which they do not grow fat, despite the fact that it is often made with toppings. In Genoa, it is cooked with onions, and it blocks the feeling of hunger. Focaccia di Recco is two-layer. Between two thin plates of dough is placed cheese, sometimes with prosciutto slices, and top with pepper and garlic. In some cases, milk is added to the focaccia dough: this is different from pizza, in which dairy products are not supposed to be added. And sometimes it is made without yeast, very thin, because an authentic focaccia is the simplest bread made from flour and water.