Celeb chef Aldo Zilli tests supermarket focaccia – the winner is just £2.45 and tastes authentic

The Sun

09-05-2025

Aldo Zilli
Published: Invalid Date,
ITALIAN bread sales are on the rise as a craze for scoffing giant deli-style sandwiches sweeps the UK.
Tesco has reported a 40 per cent increase in sales of olive oil-infused flatbread focaccia, inspired by customers wanting to recreate some of the tasty snacks seen online.
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Footie stars including Erling Haaland and Phil Foden have been among the fans showing off their fancy sarnies on the socials.
But which supermarket version does the best Italian job?
We asked celeb chef Aldo Zilli, who makes his own focaccia at Elaine's Restaurant in London, to try some.
Rosemary Focaccia Rolls, 200g 4-pack, £1.35, Tesco
DECORATED with salt and rosemary needles, these contain 4.5 per cent olive oil, which gives the tops a glossy sheen.
The shape and size mean they would be ideal as a convenient at-home option for making focaccia Italian-style sandwiches, too.
Unfortunately, they taste terrible.
The packet says they are hand-finished – but whoever is doing this bit needs to back right off on the rosemary as that is what ruins the taste.
The dried needles are too bitter. I've tried to pick them off, but I couldn't get rid of them all.
This is completely ruining the bread. The dough is also too dry and slightly sweet tasting – focaccia should be soft and salty. Sadly, disgusting.
Rating: 1/5
My hack makes the scrummiest air fryer crumpet garlic bread in just eight minutes and it only costs 50p
Deli Kitchen 4 Sliced Focaccia, 360g, £1, Sainsbury's
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REALLY if you are going to make sandwiches using Italian-style bread you should use Schiacciata.
This is a kind of flat focaccia which is large and thin and soft inside and it's perfect for sarnies so it's very famous in Florence as the dough for whenever you add fillings.
It's what we use to make proper authentic Firenze-style sandwiches in the deli at my London restaurant, Elaine's.
We make our own, of course, but this pack is a good supermarket imitation of the Schiacciata style. It's a pre-sliced flatbread so it's very convenient.
It looks good with proper perforation holes and the bread is very tasty.
A bit more olive oil and salt would be nice but at 25p each I can swallow that. Good for family lunches.
4/5
Olive Oil & Garlic Flatbread, 220g, £3.50 each, M&S
SEVEN per cent extra virgin olive oil is generous when it's such an expensive ingredient, so I'm glad I can see and taste it in this dough.
This was the most olive oil in any of the breads I tried.
On the flip side, it also means it's very soggy and, because the dough is also quite thin and you have to heat it, there's a good chance it will burn if you don't watch it very carefully.
Once cooked, it's really quite nice. It's a very good olive oil, the garlic on top is strong but not sour – get the mints ready afterwards – and I like the parsley.
The dough is a good texture and thickness.
This is for tearing and sharing bread, not for sandwiches.
A very good garlic bread but it's thin and crispy, I wouldn't really call it focaccia.
THESE look nice in the packet and are a bargain for bread made with 4.5 per cent extra virgin olive oil.
They came out of the oven smelling great and I really wanted to love them, but why on earth have they covered them with so much rosemary?
Yes, it is authentically Italian to sprinkle the focaccia with the herb but they have used it the wrong way.
The actual dough is not bad, it's golden and crispy. But it's a normal bread roll, not a proper focaccia.
The dough has not risen enough, so they are also too flat, and they are not soft enough to slice for sandwiches. They're too salty, too.
But any bread out of the oven is always tasty, so if you warm them up and dunk in olive oil or add a dip, they are OK.
Rosemary & Sea Salt Focaccia, 250g, £2.50, Sainsbury's Taste the Difference
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I WAS keen to tear into this one. It looks like a proper large hand-made focaccia should – with an unlevel top, puffy segments and a golden outer. It also contains six per cent extra virgin olive oil.
But I'm afraid it's really disappointing to eat.
This bread is dry and rock hard. To be honest it seems stale and it's like trying to bite into a brick.
It's hard to break off as it just cracks everywhere.
This is another bread covered in too many herbs and the dried rosemary is a problem. It's embedded in it and so bitter.
This dough needs more olive oil. When I make focaccia it's spongy and light, this is like a doorstop.
The ingredients are good, though – it just needs adjustments. And you get a lot for your dough.
Irresistible Rosemary & Rock Salt, 246g, £2.45 each, Co-op
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FINALLY – a proper Italian-tasting focaccia! This is ­fantastic, and I can't stop eating it.
The white bread inside is soft and fluffy like a cloud so I can tell they've used a really good extra virgin olive oil.
The outside is crispy and golden and the rosemary needles have been added with restraint, so they just enhance the golden topping and don't ruin it.
You get that just-greasy-enough consistency, and the rock salt on top is perfect.
It's light and delicious with a proper bounce in your mouth. This is the only one that I think you could simply eat as it is, perhaps with ­balsamic vinegar, and oil for dipping. Or you could make a nice panini-style sandwich.
It's substantial, so I think this is good value, too.
5/5
Focaccia Rolls, 130g, 59p each, Lidl
THIS is peculiar. On the one hand it's come from the store bakery so it is nice and fresh and only 59p for a decent-sized bit of bread – a very good price.
But the taste is odd. It's been covered in dry herbs which make it smell strange and the flavour is not right for a focaccia.
I can't taste any olive oil. For once there is no rosemary that I can taste, and instead this is covered with dried oregano and garlic.
These are both very strong flavours and if you don't like either of them you're in trouble.
The dough is very pale and white, a bit dense.
It's certainly edible and you could add other things for a cheap lunch.
Fill with good mozzarella or perhaps some Parma ham, maybe some olives and rocket leaves, and I think you'll fix the bread.
Mozzarella & Hot Honey Focaccia, 312g, £3 each (Clubcard price), Tesco Finest
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THIS is quite doughy. You have to reheat it and drizzle the honey on top.
But even after warming by following the packet instructions, it's still a bit raw in the middle.
That said, this is a decent bread. It's nice and spongy and made with good flour.
I can tell the dough is fermented and hand-stretched as it gives it that light, airy texture and it tears apart in the right way.
I like the mozzarella and garlic on top but the hot honey sachet doesn't belong. It's too sweet and doesn't really go with the base or cheese.
It's a useless ingredient, I'd leave it off and use a proper chilli oil or fresh chilli.
Or add some salami and you'd have a very well-priced pizza.
Give it a bit of attention and this is a good, well-made attempt.