Focaccia di Recco col Formaggio

Ingredients

• For the dough
• 500 g 00 flour
• 250 ml water, room temperature
• 60 ml olive oil, plus more for the tray and surface
• 1 tsp fine salt
• For the filling
• 400 g crescenza or stracchino, cold from the refrigerator, broken into irregular pieces

Method

1. 1
   Combine the 00 flour, salt, olive oil, and water in a bowl. Mix until a rough dough forms, then knead on an unfloured surface for 8–10 minutes until the dough is smooth and cohesive. Divide into two equal pieces, shape each into a ball, cover with a cloth, and rest at room temperature for 30–40 minutes. The dough is ready when it offers no resistance when pressed with a fingertip.
2. 2
   Heat the oven to its maximum setting — 300°C if the oven allows; otherwise as high as it will reach. Place the baking tray in the oven to heat through. Oil the hot tray generously with olive oil.
3. 3
   Working with the first dough ball, stretch it over the backs of your hands — exactly as you would stretch filo or strudel pastry — easing it gradually from the centre outward until it is translucent in places and large enough to cover the tray with a slight overhang. Lay it onto the oiled tray. This step is where the dish lives or dies: if the dough tears too coarsely or remains too thick, the finished focaccia will be bready rather than cracker-thin; the sheet must be near-transparent before it goes down.
4. 4
   Scatter the crescenza in irregular blobs across the lower sheet, leaving a border of roughly 2 cm at the edges. Do not spread the cheese evenly — uneven distribution creates pockets of molten cheese in the finished focaccia.
5. 5
   Stretch the second dough ball to the same near-transparent thinness. Lay it carefully over the cheese-covered base sheet. Press and pinch the edges together to seal. Trim any excess overhang. Pierce the top sheet at irregular intervals with your fingertips or a small knife to allow steam to escape. Drizzle olive oil over the surface and season lightly with salt.
6. 6
   Slide the tray onto the highest shelf of the oven. If the oven cannot reach 300°C, engage the broiler or grill element simultaneously. Bake until the surface blisters and browns in irregular spots and the cheese is visibly melted and running beneath the top sheet — 8–12 minutes depending on oven temperature. The focaccia is done when the top is deeply blistered, golden in places, and the filling moves when the tray is tilted.
7. 7
   Remove from the oven and serve immediately from the tray. The cheese should run when the focaccia is cut. It does not travel and does not wait.