Focaccia, Pizza's Tiny Cousin
from Italian Traditional Food

Focaccia is quite unique

While very similar to its larger cousin, Focaccia is not quite the same as pizza. Focaccia is a much smaller flatbread, and it is usually much thicker than a typical pizza.

These fine breads are great by alone as a small lunch meal, because they usually have many different ingredients on to of the bread once it is finished baking.

The most obvious and notable ingredient for this flat bread is olive oil. This oil is used to keep the bread from drying out, and is generally applied prior to the bread baking.

Onions and other various ingredients can line the top of one of these fine soft breads, and you can even place meats on the top of the bread as well. When you look at the Focaccia bread from these standpoints, it is obvious why many people become confused and place them in the same pan as pizza.

Italy's Tiny Bread In The Making

Not unlike pizza, Italy is in love with the focaccia bread. They have created this bread and perfected it all at the same time. This bread is made in a very similar fashion to pizza where the dough is rolled out into a flat board, and placed in an open stone bottomed oven or even a hearth.

Just before the dough is set to rise however, this is where things start to change. Olive oil is applied to the top, and the dough is poked with either a finger or a utensil handle to release air. This keeps the pockets that form on the top from developing, and makes the bread's surface smooth. This is known as dotting the bread, and is a practice that is not shared by the pizza.

When you dot the bread, you are making specific channels that the bread will use to accept the oil and prevent any drying out and it will help with the flavor of the oils.

Bread With Multiple Purposes

What is truly unique about focaccia bread is that it can be used for several different things opposed to the likes of pizza. Focaccia bread can in fact be used as a base for pizza itself, or it can entertain various deli meats and be used as bread for sandwiches. This combined with the fact that you can eat it as is, makes this bread very versatile and easy to work with.

Found Around The World

Focaccia bread has become so popular today, that it is virtually in every deli, bakery, and grocery store, around the world. This pleasing tiny bread, with the oils and fine garlic and rosemary makes a wonderful lunch on the go. It can be headed, or eaten as is, with a dip of fine olive oil. Whichever way you choose to eat this delightful little bread, you cannot go wrong.

More and more people today, are finding this bread to be a great substitute for conventional pizza dough as it is very light and airy. While the pizza dough is very similar in nature, there are definitely differences that even the untrained consumer can detect.

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