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The
History of Focacia
Focacia
is sort of half way between Pizza and bread. The word
focacia is derived
from the latin word meaning hearth.
From
the Oxford
Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University
Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 311)
About
foccacia This flat bread topped with spices and other
products is related to modern pizza. The basic recipe
is thought by some to have orginiated with the Etruscans
or Ancient Greeks.
"Focaccia
or fougasse, a flat bread which belongs essentially
to the northern shores of the Mediterranean and has
its origin in classical antiquity. In ancient Rome panis
focacius denoted a flat bread cooked in the ashes ("focus"
meant hearth). These came the term focacia, focaccia
in modern Italian, fougasse in the south of France,
and fouace in the north of France...in France this form
of bread had become a luxury item by the end of the
middle ages. It could be, as at Amiens, a simple white
bread; or it could be enriched as in Provence, where
14th and 15th century documents equate it with placentula,
i.e. a sort of cake'. This enrichment made the product
so different from plain bread that in at least one place
it escaped a tax on bread. For many centuries it has
had an association with Christmas Eve and Epiphany...In
the Italian context one thing is obvious, namely that
the addition of topping to a plan focaccia would result
in a kind of pizza. However, apart from this aspect,
Italian focaccia has branched out in various directions,
both savoury and sweet...Numerous regional specialties
such as the fitascetta of Lombardy, the Tuscan sticciata,
and the schiacciata of Emelia are all descendants. Also,
a focaccia may be made with flavourings such as onion
and sage or anise, or honey, etc."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University
Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 311)
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