Thanks, di. That's pretty much what I thought of them.
But, GG's got a point.
From Wikipedia:
Ancient Rome, panis focacius[1] was a flat bread baked on the hearth.[2] The word is derived from the Latin focus meaning "hearth, place for baking."[3] The basic recipe is thought by some to have originated with the Etruscans, but today it is widely associated with Ligurian cuisine.
As the tradition spread, the different dialects and diverse local ingredients resulted in a large variety of bread (some may even be considered cake). Due to the number of small towns and hamlets dotting the coast of Liguria, the focaccia recipe has fragmented into countless variations (from the biscuit-hard focaccia di Camogli to the oily softness of the one made in Voltri), with some bearing little resemblance to its original form. The most extreme example is a specialty called focaccia col formaggio ("focaccia with cheese") which is made in Recco, near Genoa. Other than the name, this Recco version bears no resemblance to other focaccia varieties, having a caillé and cheese filling sandwiched between two layers of paper-thin dough. It is even being considered for European Union PGI status.
Out of Liguria, focaccia comes in many regional variations and its recipe, its texture, its flavor remarkably varies from north to south of Italy. In some parts of the Northwest, for example, a popular recipe is focaccia dolce ("sweet focaccia"), consisting of a basic focaccia base and sprinkled lightly with sugar, or including raisins, honey, or other sweet ingredients.[4] Another sweet focaccia from the Northeast is focaccia veneta ("Venetian focaccia"), a typical cake of the Venetian Easter tradition: it is based on eggs, sugar and butter (instead of olive oil and salt) and it looks quite similar to panettone or to another Venetian cake like pandoro.
In northwestern regions of Italy, across the French border, so-called focaccia, fougasse or tarte glacée ("glazed cake" in French) is a Christmas and New Year's Eve cake topped by a sugar and egg-white glaze, commercially known as focaccia di Susa. A ciambella shaped version is called tarte couronne or couroun.
In South Tyrol and in the small village of Krimml in Austria, the so-called Osterfochaz (in Krimml Fochiz) is the traditional Easter gift of the Godparents to their Godchildren. Therefore, the bread is slightly thinner in the middle, in order to put in the coloured Easter eggs.[5]
Back to olive oil- and salt-based focacce (e.g. focaccia alla genovese, originated in Genoa), Central Italian cuisine has its own specialties as well. In Florence there are "focaccia with potato and rosmary" and schiacciata also called in the rest of Tuscany schiaccia. The Roman pizza bianca ("white pizza") can be extensively considered as variants of focaccia as well.
In the south Focaccia alla messinese is a typical focaccia from Messina, while focaccia barese or focaccia alla barese is common in the provinces of Bari, Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto. This latest focaccia is at least partially made with durum wheat flour and usually comes in three variations: classic focaccia with fresh tomatoes and often olives, potato focaccia with potato slices 5 mm thick and white focaccia with salt grains and rosemary. Some other variations include peppers, onions, eggplant or other vegetables.
Elsewhere in Europe, fougasse is a typical bread from Provence and from the French cuisine as a whole, also known as fogassa, foisse or fouaisse in local variations (e.g. in Burgundy and Languedoc); the name fogassa is also used in Catalonia, while Spaniards call this bread hogaza.
A variant of focaccia in the Balkans and Turkey is known as pogača. This South Slavic name is derived from focaccia via Byzantine Greek: πογάτσα.
As an aftermath of the Italian diaspora in the Americas, focaccia is also consumed in the United States, where it sometimes referred to as focaccia bread. In Argentina, it is widely known under the name of fugazza, derived from fugàssa in the native language of Argentina's many Ligurian immigrants.
Outside of Italy, focaccia is used extensively as a sandwich bread.
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You know, I learn so much here everyday. This will be one of those things that I'll sound like an expert on someday, and my family or friends will ask, "How the heck do you know that?".
I'll just smile and think of everyone here.
I still can't peel garlic without thinking of Andy.