P
Italian · Recco, Liguria
Focaccia di Recco col Formaggio
Focaccia di Recco is not focaccia in the conventional sense. It is two paper-thin sheets of unleavened dough encasing crescenza or stracchino cheese, baked at extremely high heat until the cheese melts into a flowing interior and the surface blisters and browns. The dough contains no yeast — it is stretched by hand to near-transparency, the way you would stretch filo, and baked on an oiled tray at 300°C or as close to that as a domestic oven allows.
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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
500 g
00 flour
Your own market
250 ml
water
room temperature
Your own market
60 ml
olive oil
plus more for the tray and surface
Your own market
1 tsp
fine salt
Your own market
For the filling
400 g
crescenza or stracchino
cold from the refrigerator, broken into irregular pieces
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
II
The Method
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Crescenza sourced from within the Recco IGP production zone, made from full-fat Ligurian milk; 00 flour milled from soft wheat with high extensibility for filo-thin stretching; cold-pressed Ligurian DOP olive oil.
02
Estate — Crescenza or stracchino from a named northern Italian dairy with 40–50% fat content confirmed; good-quality Italian 00 flour; extra-virgin olive oil of mild, grassy character.
03
Market — Any fresh stracchino readily available from a well-stocked Italian delicatessen; standard supermarket 00 flour; a clean extra-virgin olive oil.
04
House — If crescenza is unobtainable, a young, mild, high-fat soft cheese that melts completely without weeping water may be substituted — though the result departs from the IGP specification. Mozzarella is not a substitute: it pools water and produces a tough, rubbery filling.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. The rested dough yields immediately when pressed and springs back slowly — the gluten has fully relaxed and the dough will stretch without snapping back.
◇Sight. The stretched sheet is translucent in places, as with filo, and shows no thick opaque patches.
◇Sight. The baked surface is blistered and brown in irregular spots; the top sheet has puffed and coloured.
◇Sight. The filling moves visibly when the tray is tilted — the cheese has melted fully and flows.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dough must be stretched over the backs of the hands to near-transparency before it is laid on the tray — if it remains too thick, the focaccia bakes bready rather than cracker-thin, and the defining contrast between shattered crust and molten interior is lost.
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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
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
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