I can honestly say that I pity anyone who hasn’t tasted focaccia col formaggio, an un-focaccia-like cheese focaccia that contradicts what springs to mind at the mere mention of the classic Italian flatbread. They don't know what they're missing.
I tried it for the first time in 2015 at the Milan outpost of Focacceria Manuelina, a bakery-restaurant in Recco, a comune in the city of Genoa. Manuelina's focaccia di Recco has drawn a crowd since its 1885 opening. Focaccia di Recco, though, is not so-called elsewhere – if it’s not made in Recco, it goes by focaccia col formaggio as per the regulations of the Consorzio della Focaccia di Recco, established in 2005.
The Consortium’s website states that the product dates at least as far back as the 12th century. During the Third Crusade, the Recchesi took refuge inland to escape the Saracen pirate raids. They had oil, cheese, water, and flour consistently at their disposal, so they subsisted on this recipe while hunkering down inland.
Focaccia di Recco differs from the pillowy, olive-oil brushed focaccia (fügassa in the local dialect) alla Genovese, comprising paper-thin sheets of dough sandwiching a gooey layer of cheese. The original recipe calls for prescinsêua, a soft sour cheese that’s difficult to source outside of Geona and its surroundings, so focaccia-makers often swap it for crescenza or stracchino.
I’ll never forget the first time I bit into the focaccia's salty, crispy exterior encasing a hot, gooey cheese undercut with a delicately sour spine – it’s pure textural and saporific bliss and it never gets old. Not even after a gazillion focaccias later – every time is just as memorable as the first. I’ve had the pleasure of introducing focaccia col formaggio to dozens of out-of-towners, watching their eyes light up as they emit a fanciful chorus of mmmm’s, wows, and, “this is sooo good.” Once they've swallowed the first bite, curious enthusiasm usually pours forth.
Focaccia col formaggio is starting to make its rounds in U.S. cities like New York and L.A., but if you can’t find it and/or you’d like to give it a go at home, our chef Joëlle Néderlants crafted the recipe below. If anything, it'll hold you over until your next trip to Italy.
It's best straight out the oven. So if you’re making it, serve it immediately. Otherwise, heat it up before serving it. And if you find yourself in a Liguria focacceria asking for a slice from the display case, ask them to heat it up first if they don't offer to do so.
Focaccia col formaggio recipe
Time: 45 minutes plus 1 hour of rest
Ingredients for 4
2 cups ‘00’ flour (250 g.)
9 oz. prescinsêua, crescenza or stracchino, chopped (250 g.)
extra-virgin olive oil
salt
Photo: Riccardo Lettieri
Mix the flour with 5 oz/125 g. of water, adding a pinch of salt and 1¾ Tbsp./25 g. of oil. Form 2 balls of dough and let them rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature in two oiled bowls covered with plastic wrap.
Roll out the dough, one at a time, pulling them well with your hands on a well-oiled work surface. Make 2 sheets of about 1 mm thick.
Oil an 11-12″ (28-30 cm) round mold and line it with parchment paper, pulling the edges taut Place the cheese on top, cover with the other pastry, and seal the edge, pinching it along the circumference.
Prick the focaccia with a fork and brush the surface with a little oil.
Bake in a hot oven at 525°F (280°C) for 10-12 minutes, until the focaccia is slightly golden on the surface. If the temperature of your oven doesn’t exceed 500°F (250°C), prolong the cooking time by a few minutes.