Focaccia di Recco
Focaccia di Recco is nothing like the focaccia you know: there’s no yeast, and the dough is stretched so thin you can see your fingers through it. Between two such sheets hides soft, milky cheese that bubbles up through little tears in the hot oven. It’s the most demanding recipe in this section, but stretching gets easier with each attempt, and even an imperfect one vanishes in minutes.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 12 min
- Rest
- 1 h
- Total
- 1 h 42 min
- Servings
- 4
- Level
- Challenging
- Per serving
- 640 kcal
Ingredients
For the dough
For the filling
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What to use instead
Crescenza and stracchino can be hard to find. The closest stand-in is 250 g of full-fat cream cheese mixed with 150 g of chopped, well-drained mozzarella, though the flavour is a little different.
Makes: 1 focaccia (32 cm), 4 portions
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
Oven
280 °C · top and bottom heat, no fan
With a fan: 260 °C
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Step 1: Knead the dough
Mix the flour and salt, add the water and oil and knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is very smooth, silky and elastic. It should be soft but not sticky.
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Step 2: Rest
Wrap the dough and leave it at room temperature for 1 hour. The rest relaxes the gluten; without it, the dough won’t stretch thin.
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Step 3: Heat the oven
Heat the oven to its maximum, 270–280 °C (520–535 °F), or 250 °C with the grill on, with a rack in the upper third. Oil a 32 cm round metal pizza pan.
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Step 4: Stretch the bottom sheet
Divide the dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Roll the larger one into a 20 cm circle, then drape it over the backs of your hands and gently stretch it, turning as you go, until it’s translucent and bigger than the pan. Lay it in the pan with the edges hanging over.
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Step 5: Dot with cheese
Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of cold cheese and dot them over the dough every 3–4 cm.
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Step 6: Add the top sheet
Stretch the smaller piece of dough the same way and lay it over the cheese. Press the two layers together around the rim and tear off the excess by running your fingers along the edge of the pan.
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Step 7: Tear small vents
Pinch small holes in the top sheet above the pieces of cheese; they let steam escape and the cheese bubble through. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with flaky salt.
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Step 8: Bake
Bake for 8–12 minutes, until the surface is patched with golden brown and the cheese is bubbling through the holes. Cut into squares and serve immediately, while it’s crisp.
Tips & variations
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Swap
Crescenza and stracchino can be hard to find. The closest stand-in is 250 g of full-fat cream cheese mixed with 150 g of chopped, well-drained mozzarella, though the flavour is a little different.
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Tip
Small holes in the bottom sheet are no disaster; patch them with a scrap of dough from the edge. What matters is that the dough is evenly thin.
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Tip
No round pan? A 30 × 40 cm baking sheet works: stretch the dough into a rectangle and keep the same baking time.
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Storage
Focaccia di Recco is best hot from the oven. Leftovers can be warmed in a dry pan for 2–3 minutes, but they won’t be quite as crisp.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 4 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 640 kcal | 2,560 kcal |
| Protein | 25 g | 100 g |
| Fat | 37 g | 148 g |
| Carbohydrates | 50 g | 200 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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