Breads and Flatbreads

Wheat in the form of bread has been a staple of Italian culture for centuries. Existing artifacts suggest that some form of flatbread was made as early as the Neolithic period; primitive versions were made from ground wheat, kneaded into rough flatbreads or loaves and cooked on hot stones (Serventi and Sabban, Pasta: The Story of a Universal Food). Further historical evidence suggests that the origins of flatbreads in Italy may be credited to the Etruscans, ancient Greeks, or both. Some time later, the Romans appear to have cooked a flatbread called panis focacius in the ashes of their cooking fires, and the modern Italian word focaccia is derived from the Latin word for hearth (focus).