Name: Focaccia di Recco
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 1 h 22 min
Cuisine: Italian, Recco / Liguria
Ingredients: 300 g strong Italian 00 or Manitoba flour, W > 300 if known; 150 g water, add 5–15 g more only if needed for a soft smooth dough; 30 g extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for the tray and top; 6 g fine sea salt; 600 g very fresh crescenza or stracchino, soft cow’s-milk cheese, well chilled; 20 g extra-virgin olive oil, for tray and surface; 2 g fine sea salt, for the top

Focaccia di Recco: wide hero view of a very thin round cheese-filled focaccia on a metal tray, blistered and golden with a cut wedge revealing melted white cheese

Prep40 minutes

Cook12 minutes

Total1 h 22 min

Yield1 round 35 cm focaccia, about 6 portions

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The dish

About Focaccia di Recco

Focaccia di Recco col Formaggio PGI is a specific Ligurian product whose production area includes Recco, Sori, Camogli and Avegno. Its protected method uses an unleavened dough of strong soft-wheat flour, water, extra-virgin olive oil and salt around a fresh soft cow’s-milk cheese.

The dough is rested for at least 30 minutes, then stretched to less than 1 mm. This is the decisive technical difference from ordinary focaccia: there is no yeast, no thick crumb and no final proof. The structure is closer to two extremely thin elastic sheets enclosing pockets of melting cheese.

The PGI method bakes at roughly 270–320 °C for only 4–8 minutes. Most home ovens cannot reproduce that heat. This recipe therefore labels its bake as a domestic approximation: use the hottest setting, a fully preheated metal tray or steel and a slightly longer bake, while recognising that the result cannot be sold or represented as PGI Focaccia di Recco outside the protected system.

Cheese is distributed in small pieces rather than spread as a continuous paste. As the focaccia bakes, steam must escape, so the top sheet is pinched or torn in several places before it enters the oven.

The final focaccia should stay very low, blistered and golden, with a thin crisp upper sheet and soft melted cheese immediately underneath.

Technique

Three things that matter

No yeast. The protected identity is built on rested but unleavened dough, not a risen focaccia crumb.
Stretch below 1 mm. Both sheets should be almost transparent but still intact before filling.
Use the hottest oven possible. The original product relies on extreme heat and a very short bake; domestic heat is the main unavoidable compromise.

Cook the dish

Ingredients

Everything needed to prepare the dish, arranged for fast scanning before cooking.

Unleavened dough

300 gstrong Italian 00 or Manitoba flourW > 300 if known
150 gwateradd 5–15 g more only if needed for a soft smooth dough
30 gextra-virgin olive oilplus extra for the tray and top
6 gfine sea salt

Filling and finish

600 gvery fresh crescenza or stracchinosoft cow’s-milk cheese, well chilled
20 gextra-virgin olive oilfor tray and surface
2 gfine sea saltfor the top

Step by step

Method

Mix and rest the dough

Knead until smooth. Combine flour, water, 30 g olive oil and 6 g salt. Knead 8–10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth and elastic.
The dough should stretch without cracking at the edges.
Rest at room temperature. Cover and leave for at least 30 minutes. Divide into two pieces, with the base piece slightly larger than the top piece.
After resting, the dough should roll without repeatedly shrinking back.

Stretch and fill

Stretch the lower sheet. Lightly oil the tray. Roll the larger dough piece thin, then continue stretching carefully over the backs of the hands until it is less than 1 mm thick. Lay it over the tray with an overhang.
The metal should almost be visible through the sheet, with no tears under the filling area.
Distribute the cheese. Tear the cold crescenza or stracchino into walnut-sized pieces and scatter them evenly, leaving only small gaps between pieces.
The cheese should not be blended with milk or cream.
Add the upper sheet. Stretch the second dough piece just as thin and drape it over the cheese. Pinch the two sheets together around the rim and trim excess dough.
The top should sit loosely enough to form bubbles rather than being pressed flat onto the cheese.
Open steam vents. Pinch or tear several small holes in the top sheet above cheese-free gaps. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt.
Steam vents should be visible before the focaccia reaches the oven.

Bake at maximum heat

Preheat aggressively. Heat the oven, tray or pizza steel at its maximum conventional setting, ideally 250–275 °C, for at least 30 minutes.
The baking surface must be fully saturated with heat before the focaccia goes in.
Bake until blistered and golden. Bake on the hottest available surface for about 8–12 minutes, watching continuously near the end.
The top should show golden blisters and brown streaks while the focaccia stays under about 1 cm thick.
Serve immediately. Rest only 2–3 minutes, cut into wedges and serve while the upper sheet is crisp and the cheese is fluid.
Long standing softens the thin crust quickly.

Practical guidance

PGI distinction

The protected product is made only in the designated Ligurian municipalities under its specification. A home version elsewhere should be described as a home-style approximation, not as certified PGI Focaccia di Recco.

Cheese

Fresh crescenza or stracchino is the closest accessible home substitute. Avoid mozzarella, which stretches and releases moisture differently.

Domestic oven

A pizza steel or thoroughly heated heavy tray improves the underside, but a home oven still bakes slower than the 270–320 °C professional range.

No freezing before baking

The PGI production method does not permit freezing or pre-baking. For a home page focused on tradition, fresh assembly and immediate baking should remain the default.

Troubleshooting

The dough tears while stretching. It needs more rest, stronger flour or gentler stretching over the backs of the hands.
The focaccia is thick and bready. The sheets were not stretched below 1 mm or yeast was added.
The cheese floods out. The rim seal failed or the cheese was too wet.
The top stays pale. The oven and baking surface were not hot enough; use the highest safe setting and preheat longer.

Nutrition per serving

Serving size: 1 of 6 wedges
Calories: approximately 560 kcal
Carbohydrates: 43 g
Protein: 20 g
Fat: 34 g
Fibre: 1 g
Sodium: approximately 960 mg

Estimate uses 600 g fresh cheese and divides one large home focaccia into six portions.

Allergens and food safety

Contains wheat/gluten and milk.

Keep fresh soft cheese refrigerated until assembly and do not leave the filled unbaked focaccia at room temperature for extended periods.

Serve promptly; refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and reheat until hot, understanding that the crust will be less crisp.

FAQ

Does Focaccia di Recco contain yeast?

No. The protected method uses an unleavened dough; the extreme thinness comes from resting and stretching, not fermentation.

Why are holes pinched in the top?

They vent steam so the two thin sheets blister rather than balloon uncontrollably around the melting cheese.

Can mozzarella be used?

It melts differently, stretches more and releases different amounts of moisture. Fresh crescenza or stracchino is a better home approximation.

Final note

What matters most

Result: An ultra-thin golden focaccia with blistered crisp sheets and a soft, flowing fresh-cheese centre.
Key: No yeast, sub-millimetre sheets and maximum oven heat define the technique.