Bread as Agriculture:
A series highlighting Greenmarket baked goods made with local grains.    
Buon Pane Focaccia
Featured Item #6
Buon Pane's Focaccia  


To glimpse what lies on Barbara Olson's Buon Pane table at any given time is to get an instant run-down of what's available at Greenmarket that week. As one of the few producers at market whose first years there were spent as a customer, Olson relished the opportunity to meet farmers and be a part of New York's local food community. Now that she stands on the other side of the market table, she uses it as a subtle platform to celebrate the farmers she has respected for years by using as much of their products as possible -- from onions to cheese to flour -- in her outstanding focaccia, making it Greenmarket's pick for the new featured highlight in our Bread as Agriculture series.

Barbara Olson's focaccia was inspired by two world-famous places: Italy and the Union Square Greenmarket. Over the course of several trips to Italy, Olson came to love Italian focaccia, a flatbread traditionally topped with onions and herbs or tomatoes. She put a farm-fresh spin on the delicacy when she began baking professionally, topping it with rotating combinations of market goods that come and go on the farm tables surrounding her own. Her commitment to the practice allows Olson to pursue what she calls her long-standing interest in "linking bakers to farmers."

It's mostly during her shopping trips at the Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket that Olson forges those links, buying flour from Farmer Ground Flour, based in upstate New York, and the produce from an assortment of growers. Olson was originally forced to buy locally grown flour through a wholesaler, and could more fully realize her vision for a farm-fresh bakery only recently, when flour became available at market. "I'm proud to say that [all the ingredients] are here at market - I tell people they can buy the flour themselves," says Olson.

Olson's focaccia is not only local to the core, it's thoroughly delicious. The springy foundation Olson creates from Farmer Ground Flour's half-white flour makes the focaccia substantial enough to be the centerpiece of any lunch, yet delicate enough to be enjoyed as a shared appetizer at dinner. On a recent day the creatively chosen focaccia toppings included blue potatoes, rosemary, and goat cheese, and another with sweet onion, cilantro, roasted garlic and mozzarella cheese. The ever-changing offerings keep regular customers coming back to find out what's new, and of course what's in season.

 

 

 

Find Buon Pane 's focaccia year-round at the following Greenmarkets:

 

Columbia University - Thursday
Grand Army Plaza -  Saturday
Union Square - Monday

 

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