Focaccia Genovese — La Fugassa

Ingredients

• For the dough
• 500 g strong white bread flour, high-protein, 12–13%
• 375–400 ml water, lukewarm, to achieve 75–80% hydration
• 10 g fine salt
• 7 g fresh or instant yeast
• For the tray
• 60–80 ml Ligurian extra-virgin olive oil, 3–4 tablespoons minimum; fruity, gentle bitterness
• For the salamoia
• 60 ml Ligurian extra-virgin olive oil
• 60 ml water, warm, not cold
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt, generous; the bread requires salt
• Finish
• 1 tsp coarse sea salt, for scattering over the surface before baking

Method

1. 1
   Combine flour, yeast, and water in a large bowl, mixing until a shaggy dough forms. Add fine salt and work the dough — stretching and folding in the bowl — until cohesion develops and the dough is smooth but distinctly slack and wet from its high hydration. It will not behave like a conventional bread dough. It is done when it holds together and shows some elasticity without tearing immediately on a slow pull.
2. 2
   Film a large bowl generously with Ligurian olive oil. Transfer the dough, turn once to coat, cover, and allow a first proof at room temperature until the dough is visibly swollen and full of gas — approximately doubled in volume. The surface should dome and show bubbles beneath the skin.
3. 3
   Pour 60–80 ml of olive oil directly onto the base of the baking tray — 3 to 4 tablespoons minimum; a mean hand here burns the base. Tip the dough onto the tray and, with oiled hands, ease it gently toward the edges without tearing. Do not force it to the corners. Allow it to relax for 20 minutes: it will spread of its own accord. The dough must reach approximately 2 cm thickness across the tray — Genovese focaccia is not thin.
4. 4
   This is the step on which the bread lives or dies. With all four fingers held together, press firmly and decisively straight down through the dough to the metal of the tray — not a light poke but a full, confident depression. Work across the entire surface in rows, leaving the characteristic deep, even pockets. Shallow dimples close during the final proof and vanish in the oven; they must reach the base.
5. 5
   Whisk the salamoia: combine 60 ml warm oil with 60 ml warm water and the coarse salt until emulsified. Pour it evenly over the dimpled dough so that every pocket fills with the brine. Scatter additional coarse sea salt over the surface. Allow the tray to rest at room temperature — not in a warm proof — until the dough is visibly risen and the dimples hold their shape but the dough wobbles gently when the tray is nudged.
6. 6
   Heat the oven to 220–230°C. Place the tray directly on the oven shelf — not on a middle rack above an air gap — and bake for 12–15 minutes. The focaccia is done when the surface is deep golden and glossy, the edges are pulling from the tray sides, and the base, lifted at one corner, shows an even amber-brown crust that sounds hollow when tapped.
7. 7
   Remove from the oven and lift the focaccia from the tray immediately to prevent the base steaming soft. When held at one edge the bread should flex slightly — if it is rigid it is over-baked. Transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm; the structure is at its peak within the first hour.