Focaccia is the traditional dessert that, in the Belluno area, accompanies not only Easter but the entire spring season. It's a rustic and wholesome leavened bread made from very simple ingredients and, in the past, it was baked in a wood-fired oven. You can find focaccia for sale in local bakeries, or you can try making it at home: the preparation is easy, although it requires some patience for the leavening times. Before you start, make sure to plan the right amount of time for the dough to rise !
1 kg of all-purpose flour, 5 eggs, 300 g of sugar, 200 g of soft butter, half a glass of grappa, half a glass of extra virgin olive oil, the grated zest of 2 oranges and 1 lemon, 100 g of yeast, 1 glass of milk, 1 teaspoon of salt.
Preparation
In a fairly large pan, dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm milk, then add a few spoonfuls of flour until you get a smooth, homogeneous dough. Cover and let it rest for one hour in a warm place.
In a larger bowl, place the sugar, eggs, soft butter, grappa, oil, citrus zest, and salt, and beat everything vigorously for about ten minutes until you get a creamy, homogeneous mixture.
Take the dough you let rise earlier and incorporate it into the mixture, working to combine them. Finally, add the remaining flour, sprinkling it in while mixing, until you have a smooth dough.
Cover and let it rise for at least 2 hours in a warm place. Once the dough has risen well, divide it into several parts and shape it into two or three focaccias. Make a cross-shaped cut on top and let them rise for another hour and a half.
The focaccias are now ready to be baked: brush the surface with egg yolk and place them in a preheated oven at 150°C for about thirty minutes, until they are golden brown.
