P
Italian · Recco, Liguria
Focaccia di Recco al Formaggio
Recco's extraordinary thin-sheet cheese flatbread — entirely different from standard focaccia: two paper-thin sheets of unleavened dough (no yeast) stretched until almost transparent, with fresh crescenza or stracchino cheese distributed between them, sealed at the edges, baked at maximum oven heat until blistered and golden. The dough is stretched by hand over the fists until it is the thinness of a plastic bag. At 300°C, the cheese melts completely and the dough blisters and crisps. The technique requires a specific oven temperature that home ovens can approximate but rarely match.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the dough
300 g
plain flour (00)
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 ml
water
cold
Your own market
30 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
Your own market
5 g
fine salt
Your own market
For the filling
400 g
crescenza or stracchino
very fresh, very soft and creamy
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For baking
30 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
for brushing the top sheet
Your own market
II
The Method
1
Combine the flour, water, olive oil and salt. Work the dough until it is smooth and homogeneous. Divide into two equal pieces, shape into balls, cover and leave to rest at room temperature for a minimum of 1 hour. The dough is ready when it offers no resistance when a corner is gently pulled — it should feel slack and extensible, not springy.
2
Set a pizza stone or baking steel on the highest rack of the oven. Heat the oven to its maximum setting — 270–300 °C — and allow the stone or steel to pre-heat for at least 1 hour. The surface must be fierce to the hand held several centimetres above it.
3
Drape the first ball of dough over both fists and extend it gently outward, rotating as you go, until it reaches the dimensions of the baking tin and is near-transparent — it should be the thinness of a plastic bag. This is where the dish lives or dies: any residual thickness will produce a doughy result entirely without character; transparency is not an exaggeration. Lay the sheet in a lightly oiled baking tin or directly onto a sheet of baking parchment cut to the stone's size.
4
Spoon pieces of crescenza or stracchino evenly across the base sheet, distributing the cheese in small spoonfuls so no area is left without coverage. The cheese should lie in a single, fairly even layer.
5
Stretch the second ball of dough to the same near-transparent thinness and lay it over the cheese layer. Press and pinch the perimeter firmly to seal the two sheets. Make several small holes across the surface of the top sheet to allow steam to escape during baking. Brush the top sheet lightly with extra-virgin olive oil.
6
Slide the focaccia onto the pre-heated stone. Bake at maximum oven heat — 270–300 °C — until the surface is deeply blistered and golden in patches and the dough is fully crisped. The cheese must be completely molten and audibly bubbling through the holes when the tin is briefly tilted. Serve immediately from the oven; the focaccia becomes leathery within 15 minutes.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Crescenza from a Ligurian caseificio within the IGP-designated area of Recco, used the day of production; stone-milled 00 flour; cold-pressed single-estate Ligurian oil; the focaccia baked in a wood-fired oven at a true 300 °C.
02
Estate — Fresh stracchino or crescenza sourced from a northern-Italian producer and used within 24 hours of production; good-quality 00 flour; a recognised Ligurian extra-virgin olive oil; a pizza steel pre-heated for 1 hour at maximum domestic oven temperature.
03
Market — Fresh crescenza or stracchino from a reliable cheesemonger — soft, creamy and without excess liquid; standard supermarket 00 flour; a clean, fruity extra-virgin olive oil; maximum domestic oven heat with a pizza stone pre-heated 1 hour.
04
House — Fresh stracchino from a supermarket dairy counter, used on the day of purchase; plain flour; any honest extra-virgin olive oil; maximum oven heat. The result is still rewarding provided the dough is stretched to true transparency and the oven is as hot as the domestic appliance will allow.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. After 1 hour of rest, the dough yields immediately when a corner is pulled and does not spring back — the gluten has fully relaxed.
◇Sight. The stretched sheet is near-transparent: a hand held beneath it is visible through the dough.
◇Sight. The surface of the baked focaccia is blistered and golden in patches, with distinct darker spots where the dough has crisped directly against the heat.
◇Sound. Cheese bubbles audibly through the holes in the top sheet when the focaccia is briefly tilted on the stone.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dough must be stretched over the fists until it reaches true near-transparency; any residual thickness will produce a doughy, characterless result that is not focaccia di Recco.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
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The whole pairingPillar VII
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