Focaccia Genovese — La Fugassa

Genoa and the Ligurian coast. The fugassa is the daily bread of Genoa — sold in panetterie from early morning, eaten plain or with coffee (a Genovese tradition considered scandalous elsewhere in Italy).

The Genovese focaccia is not pizza bianca. It is a specific flatbread defined by an extremely high hydration dough (75-80%), long fermentation, multiple oil baths, and a characteristic pocketed surface created by pressing fingers deep into the dough just before the final proof. The result is a bread that is simultaneously crisp on the exterior, cloud-soft inside, and saturated with olive oil in a way that is architectural — the oil is not a topping but part of the bread's structure.

The salamoia creates a crust that is simultaneously crisp, oily, and salty — the Ligurian oil gives a fruity, gentle bitterness. The crumb is airy, slightly chewy, with the fermentation tang of long-proved dough. Nothing like supermarket focaccia.