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Focaccia from Bari
The focaccia today in Italy is very widespread but two regions in particular contend for its authorship: Puglia and Liguria.
In particular in Puglia the tradition is very strong and it is widespread in all its provinces but it is in Bari (or in the Bari area in general) that it finds its "homeland". It was probably born in Altamura or Laterza, as a variant of the traditional durum wheat bread, to use the heat initially produced by the wood-burning oven for baking the bread but not yet at the ideal temperature for baking it. Therefore, it is left to rest for a while, then it is seasoned and finally cooked.
The legend of the Bari focaccia owes its popularity in recent years thanks to a true story, from which a film “Focaccia Blues” has also been made, which recalls David's battle against the giant Goliath. Yes, because a few years ago the news went around the world and even published in the New York Times. (In the film the actors Michele Placido, Lino Banfi and Renzo Arbore appear in small roles).
The American giant McDonald's opens a fast food restaurant in the small town of Altamura in the same street where there was a baker who sold the famous southern focaccia.
The little baker makes the American giant close its doors, humiliating it and forcing it to flee "the uniqueness of the flavors wins over the reproducibility of the menus". Today, the focaccia from Bari is the snack par excellence in the Apulian city. Often it replaces lunch, accompanies dinners or is tasted at any time of the day to have a snack or to fill a small sense of hunger.
The Roman Pinsa
The family is that of pizza, but the origins are different, there are those who claim that she is even older. We begin a journey to discover the origins and evolution of Pinsa Romana, a little-known product until a few years ago, which has now become an absolute protagonist of Italian cuisine.
La Pinsa was born in Lazio, near Rome, several centuries ago. A food fruit of the genius of the peasants, who certainly cannot afford to waste even a gram of that flour obtained with so much effort.
The most refined and processed product was destined for the markets, the crudest part, the one that could improperly be defined as "waste", was not sold.
The mix of flours, those that were considered "waste" of the various processes, allowed to give life to the Pinsa
Those sacks of flour were precious, wheat was the gold of the ancients, and no one would ever dream of wasting even a gram of it. The Lazio's peasants thus began to use these lightly processed, wholemeal flours to create a dough with long leavening mother yeast.
Thus was born the Pinsa, originally similar to crunchy and light focaccia, seasoned only with oil, salt and sage, with an elongated shape.