Claudia Romeo: Today we're in
Genoa, on the Italian Riviera. This city is famous for many things, like its ancient port, the aquarium, but most of all focaccia bread. And here, it's eaten at pretty
much any time of the day. You can have it for breakfast, as a snack, for lunch, for dinner, and even as dessert with Nutella. So you know what? It's time...oh, I don't care
what time of the day it is. It's just time for focaccia. Let's go and see how it's made. The old town is scattered with bakeries churning fresh focaccia
at every hour of the day. While you may be tempted to stop at the first shop that you see, we're taking you to one of
the oldest bakeries in Genoa, Antico Forno della Casana. Behind this busy focaccia
counter is Ivan Sacchi, who has been making focaccia since 1985 and has never abided by a set recipe. Claudia: Despite being a quick eat, making focaccia is far
from a speedy process. It requires long leavening
times between each step. These range between 10
minutes and two hours. The process starts with
Ivan making the dough and then kneading it. Claudia: Super elastic. Claudia: So, you know everybody abroad that calls it focaccia bread? That is absolutely not true. Claudia: So it's a better bread. It's not bread, it's just
a better bread. That's it. Claudia: The end of the
kneading of the dough marks the beginning of
the first leavening time. This is a quick one, about 10 minutes, after which the dough is going
to be split in small batches and put to rest on a wooden board. Yeah, this is very soft inside. Claudia: And not so hard
on the outside, actually. Claudia: So that is different from bread. Claudia: This is very elastic. It's very, like, energetic
as well, very firm. When you move them, you can
feel both sides, you know. I mean, I'm feeling them in my hands. I don't know how I'm gonna
be able to take this off. [laughs] So that's really a different dough. It just smells like dough. Dough will spend about
one and a half hours on the wooden boards. This is the second leavening. Claudia: When the waiting time is over, the small batches of dough
are stretched on baking trays with a bit of olive oil. Once stretched, the focaccia will rest for another two hours. This is the third and final leavening, during which the focaccia
soaks up all the flavors of the olive oil seasoning. Then it is cooked for 15
minutes at 230 degrees Celsius. The focaccia comes out of the oven with a golden crust on the outside, and soft on the inside. Claudia: Wow. So warm. So nice. Claudia: Thanks for watching. If you enjoyed it and want to see more, please subscribe to Food Insider. If you have suggestions
on what regional eat we should try next,
tell us in the comments.
