Focaccia Genovese / Fugassa

[amolapizza]

I've been wanting to do this for a while and finally got around to it.

I based my recipe on the "official" one from the Consorzio Panificatori di Genova.

441g Caputo saccorosso (100%)
243g Water (55%)
22g EVO (5%)
9g Salt (2%)
9g Sugar (2%)
5g IDY (1.13%)

I had to replace the originally used malt extract with sugar as I don't have any malt.

I mixed the dough for 15 minutes in my spiral mixer.  I added the oil after about 5 minutes and raised the speed for the last 5 minutes.  Then after about 10 minutes bench rest I formed an oval loaf which got a 90 minutes rest.  I oiled an 30x40 cm pan and then extended the dough into it by pressing with my finger tips.  Then I mixed 35g EVO with 50g of water and 8g of salt.  I poured this on top of the the fugassa and proceeded to make the characteristic holes.  Next time I'll try to space them better!  I sprinkled some medium/big sea salt crystals over the whole focaccia.

I put the hole thing inside of my normal oven to rise for another 2 hours.  Finally I baked it for 18 minutes in my F1 at 230C (230C above and 300C below with the biscotto).  After taking it out of the pan and leaving it on a grill to cool off, I painted it with even more EVO.

Ambient temperature in my kitchen was about 28C! 

Super light and just as I remember it from Italy!

[erickso1]

Thats a really nice looking bread fugassa there.

"I'm not stubborn enough to call it by the wrong name.  "

[amolapizza]

Be careful, according to the people of Genoa it's not bread! 

But thanks!

[Pizza_Not_War]

It does look good. It also looks like my last Focaccia which I made in a completely different manner but it came out with the same crumb and is light as a feather. Lots of ways to get to the end result.

You try too many different methods and I just can't keep up.

[ARenko]

Very nice.  There's nothing like biting into those doughy, salty, and oily pockets.  I have a bit different percentages, but very similar.  I let the dough ferment an additional 45 minutes after adding the brine (I've already generously oiled at the time of stretching out into the pan).  I brush with additional oil post bake. 

I'm confused about saccorosso.  Is this the same as rinforzato or cuoco (which I assume is the same as chef's)?  The description reads the same for all three (i.e. good for long fermentation at cold temps).  I've tried 100% pizzeria, 100% rinforzato, and 50/50 mix in my focaccia's.  I found 100% pizzeria or 50/50 to be better than 100% rinforzato, but them I'm not doing long, cold ferments.

[amolapizza]

I think saccorosso was called rinforzato before.  IIRC it's only available as 25kg sacks and probably is exactly the same as the Chef's flour.

I keep switching between pizzeria and saccorosso and can't really decide which I like better.  The saccorosso is definitely a bit stronger, and I like it for in teglia, alla pala, and bread.  I'm not sure that it's much of a handicap for anything else either.  I'd love to have both available all the time, but buying both is just too much flour for me...

Note that I use the fridge very sparingly!  I normally do 8-9, 24 or 32 hours at RT.  Lately I've been doing a lot of 8-9 hours fermentation (and even shorter).  Maybe I really should buy a big freezer, buy both flours and then freeze the excess...

[ARenko]

Since I got serious and really researched focaccia my best was with 100% pizzeria and worst was with 100% rinforzato.  I used to spend a lot of time in Liguria, so I'm familiar with good focaccia.  100% pizzeria or 50/50 were great.  100% Rinforzato was not quite as good.  Of course, its a small sample size and I'm sure I'm not consistent from bake to bake in my procedure. 

These ferment times you mention are for focaccia or pizza?  My main focaccia rise is 4 hours.  The rest is stretching over the course of 30 min and 45 min after the brine. 

[amolapizza]

Since I got serious and really researched focaccia my best was with 100% pizzeria and worst was with 100% rinforzato.  I used to spend a lot of time in Liguria, so I'm familiar with good focaccia.  100% pizzeria or 50/50 were great.  100% Rinforzato was not quite as good.  Of course, its a small sample size and I'm sure I'm not consistent from bake to bake in my procedure. 

I don't have much experience with making focaccia, this was my second attempt at this kind of focaccia.  It was a mixture of the "official" recipe and a video I watched.  Here is a link to the official recipe: http://www.focacciagenova.it/aziende_leggi.php?id_aziende=1&gett=s

The video I watched was:

The "official" recipe calls for 00 rinforzato, but I suppose it depends on what one means with rinforzato

What was the difference between using rinforzato or pizzeria?

Unfortunately I'm not sure I'm going to be making a lot of experiments with this style and with different flours, and I'm also not sure what to do about buying flour.  I suppose I could buy 25kg of pizzeria next time, but I think I prefer the saccorosso as everyday flour.

These ferment times you mention are for focaccia or pizza?  My main focaccia rise is 4 hours.  The rest is stretching over the course of 30 min and 45 min after the brine.

The 8/24/32 RT was regarding pizza, Neapolitan and Roman thin style, but I've also made pizza in teglia/pala with 48 hours CT (fridge).  Though I've been making some 4 hours RT pizza alla pala lately.

This Fugassa was just about 4 hours at RT (including the mixing time), 2 hours final rising after adding the oil/brine mixture.  It was quite warm in my kitchen, maybe even 28C..  My mistake the first time was to fold the dough a couple of times, it was nearly impossible to press into the pan!

This time I mixed it, left it 10 minutes on the bench and then gently rolled it into a loaf for the first rising.  It was a lot easier to push out into the pan!  Kind of stupid to give the dough a lot of extra strength after mixing it for 15 minutes in the spiral mixer! But like this we learn!