Short answer
Focaccia is a flat, leavened Italian bread made with olive oil and baked in a pan or on a sheet, with a soft crumb, a golden crust and dimples pressed into the top. It is eaten plain, topped, split for sandwiches or dipped in soup and coffee depending on the region.
Focaccia is a flat, leavened Italian bread made with plenty of olive oil, baked in a pan or on a tray and recognized by the dimples pressed into its surface. It sits somewhere between bread and pizza, and in Italy it is eaten as breakfast, a snack, a side or the base of a sandwich. This guide explains what is in it, how it tastes, how the regional versions differ and how it connects to the flavors recorded for Liguria Bakery in San Francisco.
What is focaccia, exactly?
Focaccia is a yeast-raised flatbread whose dough is enriched with olive oil and baked until the outside is golden and the inside stays soft and airy. The word is generally traced to the Latin panis focacius, a bread baked on the hearth, and the Latin focus meant hearth. That origin is the common explanation, though word histories like this are always a little uncertain.
The bread is thick compared with a pizza base and thin compared with a loaf. Depending on the style, a finished piece might be anywhere from about a finger’s width to several centimeters deep. What unites the styles is the oil. It goes into the dough, onto the pan and often over the top, and it gives focaccia its tender crumb and its slightly crisp, fried-like underside.
How do you pronounce focaccia?
The usual pronunciation is foh-KAH-chah, with the stress on the second syllable. In Italian the double c before an i or e is a soft ch, the same sound as in the English word church, so the word has no hard k sound in the middle.
English speakers often say it with a hard k sound, as in “foh-KAK-ee-ah”. Nobody will mistake you at a counter, but the Italian form is easy to learn. In the Ligurian language the bread is called fugassa, and in other regions it has other names, covered in the table below.
What does focaccia taste and feel like?
Focaccia tastes of baked wheat, olive oil and salt, with a soft, springy inside and a crust that ranges from lightly crisp to chewy. The flavor is simple on purpose, and the topping or the quality of the oil often decides the final character.
Three features define the eating experience:
- The top. It is shiny with oil, often salted, and pitted where fingers pressed the dough.
- The crumb. The inside is open and moist, with irregular holes, softer than a baguette and chewier than a sandwich loaf.
- The base. Because the dough bakes in oil, the bottom turns golden and a little crisp, which gives contrast against the soft middle.
Salt matters more than many people expect. A focaccia finished with coarse or flaky salt tastes sharply different from one made with the same dough and fine salt mixed in.
Why is focaccia so oily?
Focaccia is oily because olive oil is part of the recipe, not a garnish. Oil goes into the dough for tenderness, into the pan so the base fries as it bakes, and over the top so the surface browns and carries salt.
That oil is also why a good piece does not taste dry even though the crumb is airy. If a piece feels greasy rather than rich, the cause is usually too much oil left pooled on the surface or a dough that was underbaked. The better the oil, the more it shows, which is why the pantry guide on olive oil on this site is relevant to anyone baking at home.
What is focaccia made of?
Basic focaccia is made from wheat flour, water, yeast, salt and olive oil, and nothing else is required. A very wet, sticky dough gives the open crumb, and long resting time gives flavor.
| Ingredient | Role in focaccia |
|---|---|
| Wheat flour | Builds the structure. Bread flour, which has more protein, gives chew |
| Water | Makes the dough wet and soft, often wetter than regular bread dough |
| Yeast | Raises the dough. Some bakers use a natural sourdough starter instead |
| Salt | Seasons the dough and strengthens the gluten |
| Olive oil | Enriches the dough, coats the pan and covers the top |
Toppings are optional and vary widely. Rosemary, olives, onion, tomato, cheese and potato are all traditional somewhere. A separate guide on this site covers the classic toppings and what pairs with them.
What are the regional styles of focaccia?
Italy has no single focaccia. Each region has its own thickness, fat and topping, and some versions barely resemble each other. The list below is a general overview, not a ranking, and local bakers will disagree on details.
| Style | Region | General description |
|---|---|---|
| Focaccia genovese | Liguria | Fairly thin, soft, dimpled, brushed with water, oil and salt |
| Focaccia di Recco | Liguria | Two very thin sheets of unleavened dough filled with soft cheese |
| Focaccia barese | Puglia | Thicker and often topped with tomatoes and olives |
| Schiacciata | Tuscany | Flatter and crisper, “squashed”, often just oil and salt |
| Pizza al taglio | Rome | Rectangular tray bread sold by the slice and weighed |
| Sfincione | Sicily | Thick, spongy, topped with onion, tomato and cheese |
The Ligurian original has its own guide on this site, because it is the style the bakery’s name points to. Liguria Bakery sells focaccia in the American bakery style that sources describe, and this guide does not claim it follows any single Italian recipe.
How do people eat focaccia?
Focaccia is eaten warm or at room temperature, torn or cut into squares, and used both as a snack and as bread for a meal. Italians in Liguria are commonly described as eating it at breakfast, sometimes dipped in a milky coffee.
Common ways to eat it include:
- Plain, straight from the paper, with the oil and salt as the only seasoning.
- Split and filled as a sandwich, with cured meats, cheese, vegetables or fried cutlets.
- Alongside soup, salad or pasta, in place of a bread basket.
- Cut into small squares as an appetizer, with dips or oil.
- Toasted or reheated the next day to bring back the crust.
Sweet versions exist too. Raisin focaccia is one, and the sweet and salty balance is part of its appeal.
Is focaccia the same as pizza or ciabatta?
No. Focaccia, pizza and ciabatta are related breads with different doughs, shapes and uses. Pizza is thin and baked hot with sauce and cheese as essentials. Ciabatta is a wet-dough loaf with a thin, crisp crust, usually baked without oil in the pan.
Focaccia sits between them. It uses oil like pizza dough does, but it is thicker, softer and usually left plain or lightly topped. The line is blurry at the edges because pizza al taglio and sfincione are focaccia-like breads with pizza-like toppings. There are separate guides here on focaccia against pizza and on ciabatta, because each comparison needs more room.
What focaccia flavors are recorded for Liguria Bakery?
Liguria Bakery sells focaccia only, and its flavors as recorded in November 2026 include rosemary garlic, black olive, mushroom, jalapeno cheese, pizza and raisin. These come from Tasting Table (March 2026), which says the bakery makes fewer than 10 varieties and also sells Neapolitan pizza dough for baking at home.
On its menu as recorded in November 2026 the items are:
- Pizza focaccia: tomato sauce with green onion, called the most popular flavor in a 2009 profile.
- Rosemary garlic focaccia, Black olive focaccia, Mushroom focaccia and Jalapeno cheese focaccia, named by Tasting Table in 2026.
- Raisin focaccia: a sweet option named in 2026 and in The Infatuation (2018).
- Plain focaccia and Green onion focaccia: older sources only, so confirm they are still made.
The bakery publishes no price list. Tasting Table gives about $8 to $10 per piece, and no price per flavor was found. Tasting Table also reports cash only and says the bakery often sells out before 10 AM. See the menu page for the sources and the hours and location page for when it is open.
How should you store and reheat focaccia?
Focaccia is best the day it is baked, and it keeps for a day or two wrapped loosely at room temperature. A sealed bag softens the crust, while paper or a cloth keeps it closer to how it was.
To bring it back, warm it in a hot oven for a few minutes, directly on the rack or on a tray, until the underside crisps again. A toaster oven works for small pieces. A microwave makes focaccia soft and rubbery, so it is the weakest option. For longer storage, cut it into portions, wrap them well and freeze, then reheat from frozen in an oven.
Toppings change the rules slightly. Pieces with cheese or tomato should be eaten sooner, and a sweet raisin piece tends to hold up for longer.
How can you tell good focaccia from average focaccia?
Good focaccia is moist inside, lightly crisp outside, well seasoned and tastes of oil rather than greasiness. The baker’s choices on salt, hydration and fermentation time show in every bite.
Signs to look for:
- A crumb with irregular holes rather than a tight, cake-like texture.
- An underside that is golden and slightly crisp, not pale and soggy.
- Salt you can taste on the surface, in crystals rather than a vague saltiness.
- A flavor that develops, which usually means the dough fermented for hours rather than minutes.
- Toppings that are cooked through and not raw or dry on the surface.
None of this requires an expert palate. Tearing a piece in half and looking at the inside, then tasting the bottom, covers most of it.
Common questions
How do you say focaccia?
Say it foh-KAH-chah, with the stress on the second syllable. The cc is a soft ch sound, as in church.
Is focaccia a bread or a pizza?
It is a bread. It shares ancestry with pizza, but focaccia is usually baked in an oiled pan at a lower temperature and eaten as bread, a snack or a sandwich base.
Is focaccia vegan?
A plain focaccia made from flour, water, yeast, salt and olive oil contains no animal products. Cheese toppings and some enriched doughs do, so ask the baker about a specific flavor.
Why does focaccia have holes on top?
The dimples are pressed in with fingertips before baking. They stop the dough from puffing evenly and hold pools of oil, salt and toppings.
How long does focaccia keep?
It is best on the day it is baked. Wrapped at room temperature it stays pleasant for a day or two, and it can be frozen in pieces and warmed in an oven.
This article is general information from an independent guide, not from Liguria Bakery itself. For the store’s current details see hours and location.