Recipe for Focaccia Veneta

Its name makes us think of a savoury product, but this focaccia is sweet and fragrant. It is shaped like a Panettone, but its main competitor is the Colomba, or Easter Dove. Don’t expect, however, to find it in all pâtisseries: its origins lie more in the world of bakeries.

Focaccia Veneta is truly full of surprises: perhaps because the story of its creation is lost in the mists of time, perhaps because Venetians are so enamoured of it that they find it difficult live without, making countless versions, even well outside the Easter period.

Fugàssa, as it’s known in Venetian, is one of the many Easter cakes that has been unable to challenge the notoriety of the Colomba. Thus it has remained true to its origins and, for the most part, can be found only within the borders of our region.

To introduce you to this delicious sweetbread, we would like to give you the original recipe from one of its greatest bakers, Paolo Sarto, owner of the pâtisserie of the same name.

Ingredients for the first dough mix

• 500 g Type “00” Sebòn Panettone flour
• 250 g water
• 190 g strong sourdough starter
• 190 g demerara sugar
• 65 g egg yolk
• 90 g whole eggs 
• 90 g whole raisins
• 190 g butter

Method for mixing the first dough

First, whisk the sugar into the water and then add the flour. Add the strong sourdough, and the egg yolks and whole eggs a little at a time, taking care that the mixture remains correctly blended. Finally, incorporate the butter, which must be creamed.

This will take from 20 to 40 minutes depending on the mixer used.

At the end of this first mixing, the dough should be placed in a container covered with nylon sheeting to rise. Over the course of about twelve hours, the dough should increase to one and a half times of its initial volume.

Ingredients for the second dough

• All of the first dough
• 315 g Type“00” Sebòn Panettone flour
  
• 15 g salt
• 40 g egg yolks
• 65 g whole eggs
• 125 g demerara sugar
• 150 g flavouring (50 g honey, 40 g orange paste, the seeds of one vanilla bean, the peel of half a lemon and half an orange)
• 125 g butter
• 60 g Marsala
• 6 g diastatic malt
• 15 g powdered milk

As the first dough, started in the evening, takes about twelve hours to rise, the second dough should be mixed the following morning.

Ingredients for the glaze

• 65 g almond flour
• 65 g icing sugar
• 115 g granulated sugar
• 45 g rice flour (or corn flour)
• 80g egg whites
• 20 g peanut oil
• 2 g instant yeast
• peel of one orange
• sugar crystals to sprinkle on the glazed surface

Method

First of all, it is necessary to restore structure and strength to the first dough by placing it in the mixer and adding the flour, malt, powdered milk and salt.

Gradually add the yolks and whole eggs and the sugar alternately, taking care not to split the dough. Then add the flavouring prepared the previous day by mixing together 50 g of honey, 40 g of orange paste, the seeds of one vanilla bean, the peel of half a lemon and half an orange.

When the flavouring is well blended into the dough, add the creamed butter a little at a time and finally the Marsala. The dough will be ready when the gluten mesh is once again strong.

At this point you can take your Focaccia Veneta into a new taste dimension by making it wholemeal or rich in fibre by adding GranEssere ingredients.

You can find out how by scanning the QR code found in the other content of this Paper!

The second mix will take approximately 35-50 minutes and it is important to make sure that the mixture does not exceed 27 °C during kneading.

Now leave the Focaccia Veneta dough to rise in one piece, in a container covered with nylon sheeting for about 1.5 hours. Subsequently, cut into 950 g pieces to obtain 1 kg Focaccias.

The pieces should be rolled into compact balls and left to rise for about twenty minutes on the work surface.

Taking care not to tear the surface of the dough, re-roll the pieces into shape again before placing them in low paper moulds (high moulds are not usually used for Focaccia).

At this point, the Focaccia Veneta should be left to rise to within one centimetre of the rim of the mould.

Mix together the ingredients for the glaze in a mixer and, once the dough has risen, apply it to the surface of the Focaccias. Finally sprinkling the sugar crystals onto the glazed surface just before putting them in the oven.

The Focaccia Veneta should be baked for about 50 minutes at 165°C or until the centre reaches 94°C. In the case of smaller Focaccias, the cooking time should be reduced and the temperature slightly increased.

Once out of the oven, skewer them in the lower part of the cup, so you can turn them upside down to cool.

Package 12 hours after the end of cooking.