G: Good morning, I'm Giovanni.
We're here in Recco at Vittorio restaurant. E: I'm Emanuela De Marchi, from
Marinetta bakery in Voltri, Genoa. I: I'm Ivano Ricchebono from
The Cook restaurant in Genoa. G: We're here to watch the most popular
videos in the world about focaccia. Are we ready? Here we go. G/E/I: Gordon Ramsay... Let's see this! I: What is he adding? Corn flour? Well, he's pronouncing 'focaccia'
really well. Some salt... G: What is he adding?
I: Powdered yeast. E: Water, oil... I: He wants to feel the consistency
on his hands. It's a bit too hard. I: Some flour...
G: He's kneading it now. I: Well, he doesn't knead bad. He knows how
to use his hands. But it looks too hard to me. G: He's letting it rise. E: Rising time. There we go. Right. E: It must air, good. E: Well, the tray... I: Let's start by putting some salt
on the bottom... They probably like it... G/E: They need to drink!
I: Well, this looks...
E: Quite thick. I: It's all about methods. Well, they
don't use scales, that's worth mentioning. I: Tomatoes... E/I: He's making a gourmet focaccia. G: It doesn't look bad.
I: Salt is way abundant.
E: Pepper... G: It's becoming even thicker. I: Rosemary...
I/E: Well, that could be OK. E: But this is not focaccia. G: This is not focaccia. This is
something else. Might be Sardenara, but that is thinner, with tomato, anchovies,
olives. He made something similar. Let's see the result, now,
how it gets when it's cooked. E: The smell, God forbid,
with all of that stuff on top... G: It's so thick.
I: It should be thrown at him. E: You cannot see that. I: It's not a focaccia.
E: Also, it's uncooked. No, you got it all wrong. G: He's really off track.
I: Let's see when he cuts it. G: More than a focaccia, this is bread with a couple
olives, tomato and rosemary on top. It's not focaccia. I: First it's too thick. then all of that
rosemary... The pepper, you cannot see it. E: In the traditional version,
pepper is not used. I: Maybe some onion.
G: Some onion would've been nice. Pepper can be added just before eating it,
if you wish. It's mostly used in farinata. E: Still, it's not used while baking
or it gets bitter. He's a bit disappointing. I: He left a sour taste in our mouths.
E: Exactly! G: Failed, completely failed. Let's go on! I/G/E: Hey! It looks good! I: So, flour... Oil... Water... Clearly, no yeast... Here, elasticity should be important. E: That depends from the flour he's using.
I: Exactly. I: From the way he's kneading it,
it looks quite elastic. He's letting it stand a bit, now... One hour,
maybe a bit less. Half an hour is still fine. I/E: There he goes, rolling pin.
G: We're stepping inside tradition. I: Well, the elasticity is good.
E: And now he's working it by hand. I: We have to say that... E: Passed!
I: He might have visited Recco! G: Probably. I: He must have used a flour...
E: Manitoba. They have it close by, so... G: Manitoba high grade pastry flour. It stays
elastic, without tearing, can be stretched thin... I: He might have stretched it thinner.
G: Yes, he might, but it's good anyway. He's gonna put something on top, but what?
E: We'll see that. I: An ice cream scoop!
G: We don't have this tool! I: Oh, well, he's stingier than Genoese people!
He literally put four small balls, six of them, but still... E: Just as stingy as we are said to be.
I: You can call him tight-fisted. G: He's making money. I: Here is some technique. That's just
dough to eat. Let's see how this cheese melts. G: He's making a border. I: Let's see if he's pinching the dough. I: Yes, he does.
G: He's good. I: Only one... He's being stingy
with the pinches, as well! G/E: 500°C? I/E: Oh, Fahrenheit!
E: We didn't notice, true. I: 6/7 minutes.
E: Oh, well. Crispy... G: It's a bit blown up, since he gave it very few pinches.
E: The pinches closed up again. Some arugula... G: The cheese is so little,
it doesn't even ooze out. G: It's dry, but this focaccia is getting much closer to
the real one. He can get better: there's little cheese - E: Oil on top - G: The dough is thick,
but the cooking is fine, it's a fair result. I: We surely didn't expect it, mostly with
the soft, elastic dough - he did it quite well. G: He stretched it with a rolling pin, but...
E: I was satisfied. It's made by people living overseas, by people who've probably
never seen someone making it properly... Approved! E: At least they're using a scale. E: Dry yeast. E/G: A fish... I: Is it honey? E: Salt... I: Well, salt is important in a
focaccia, it should be weighed well - E: Otherwise you'll need
hectoliters of water! E/G: Extra virgin olive oil... I: Is that oil?
E: Well, the result... I: Well, she's letting it stand... I/G: 12-14 hours seems
a bit exaggerated to me. E: We use 12-14 hours to make 2 cycles.
The whole production takes us 6/7 hours, from the dough to the final
product. 12-14 hours really look a lot to me, then it depends from where you start,
which yeast you're using, which flour... G: What about the honey? What about that?
I: I honestly never added honey in my focaccia. Honey is a natural rising element,
but I don't think it belongs here. G: They added so little...
E: If it was biga, honey could help in a rising with
natural yeast, but that looked to me like lots of honey for a little flour, a bit
out of proportion. Then it's a direct leavening, without biga, nor sourdough starter...
that's the feeling. I: There's passages that could've been
avoided: yeast, all of this time.. G: It's quite strange. I: It's a bit too...
E: There's some kinds of focaccia that require such a soft dough. E: Why? I: They think there's too much oil.
Well, I think there should be some oil. E: You need some oil, but it's important not to
soak the dough, otherwise it becomes a sponge. I: Otherwise it doesn't get crispy. E: Yes, it's not crispy.
I: If there's too much oil, you lose the crispy part. I: You see? She likes to hit it with her fingers!
Fingerprints are needed! Go all out! I/E: It's too soft.
G: You don't need fingermarks. I: And when you do - E: The dough shouldn't stick.
I: Exactly, the dough should remain on the tray. E: Well, those prints won't stay.
I/E: Because it's too soft. I: It's a fingerprint mess. G: What is she doing now? E: She's brushing it with -
G: Some more oil. I: No, this is water! E: If you put water with salt on top,
before putting it in the oven, in the holes just salt melting
and the whiter part will stay, while the upper part gets crispier. Water, though, helps you
keep that part soft. I: I always give it a little water. E: Absolutely, it's right.
I: He didn't do it wrong. E: 2,5 liters oil... They could never work at
my bakery: too much waste of raw materials! I: It looks like saffron oil! It's very yellow.
E: Looks like a painting by Kandinskij. E/I: Salt. G: Again.
E: And they're adding it on top, again. I: They really do play with salt. They think -
E: Salt must - I/E: It must melt a bit. E: You can't add it raw, it must be
added while cooking. Part of it doesn't melt, and you feel the grain. But part of it
must melt. G: They can't even take it off. I: They put lots of oil that should be helping.
E: It should slide away. I: And instead... I: They should be careful the water doesn't go
under the dough. If it does, automatically... E: Everything gets ruined
and sticks together. I: They didn't show, but water went on the bottom...
E: They have to learn a bit more. G: They experimented,
but it didn't turn out well. E: They need a carpenter. G: 25 minutes later there's the other one.
E: Oh, right, the other one! G: This is gonna be better! I: This is perfect... I mean, "perfect"...
E/I: At least, it comes off the tray. I: They probably put less oil.
Nice and crispy on the bottom... The thickness is still off,
but it's slightly closer. E: It's too shortly leavened. Can you see how small
the air pockets are? The dough is very compact. G: They put it in the oven straight away... E: Well, after 12 hours rising,
there should be holes this big! I: You can also cut it in half and fill it...
E: Make a sandwich. G: Let's say it was a partially successful
attempt, the thickness of the second one - I: It was closer to a Genoese focaccia. G: The second batch was closer. E: At least the quantity of dough was a little more
proportionate to the tray to make a Ligurian focaccia. G: The oil is a bit too abundant,
and the salt, as well. It's not right. I: There some mistakes in
the technique, rising, procedure... E: Let's give them a plus
for the thickness. I: When you look at it, it's closer to a Ligurian focaccia.
E: There's various kinds of focaccia, various declinations. We have a kind of blinkers, as focaccia
for us is the Genoese one and nothing else, or the cheese one from Recco. G: There's a big difference between Ligurian
focaccia and from other regions. It's different things: the thickness, out of Liguria is much thicker...
E: We do it well, really from basic ingredients, without tomatoes,
rosemary... Our focaccia is very simple, but in its simplicity, it is extraordinary. G: Yes, it's typical Ligurian.
I: What's great is to wake up in the morning, go to a cafe and dunk
focaccia in a cappuccino. I mean, the one with onions in a cappuccino... maybe we're the only ones, but it's fair enough.
E: If you try it, you will not regret it. And you'll get honorary citizenship in Genoa at your home!
G: It's still a living tradition: fishermen in the early morning,
before they sailed away to fish, used to go to the bakeries
that opened the earliest, they got their nice focaccia slices, went on the boat with
a wicker white wine bottle, drank some glasses and
on and on with wine and focaccia! Then they sailed away, revived. They
didn't even get seasick with that diet! It prevented seasickness, as wine stabilized with the focaccia dough and they really floated well! Galvanized by watching
these videos, they are nice in their own ways, charged with this enthusiasm, we need
to show how to really make focaccia! E: Let's go to work!
G: But we'll make our focaccia! Are we going?
E: Let's go!
