Crispy cheesy: recipe to your easy go-to bites
Includes:
- History and development!
- Ingredients
- Directions
- Tips
- Fun facts
Know me a little, please!
Focaccia col Formaggio is strongly related to the Ligurian city of Recco, close to Genoa on Italy’s northwestern coast. Its records are centuries vintage, despite the fact that the precise origins are a chunk hazy. Legend says that in Saracen raids within the Middle Ages (around the 12th century),
villagers fled inland with best flour, water, and cheese — the handiest provisions — and invented this skinny, cheese-stuffed bread to preserve themselves
Local Tradition: Over time, what commenced as a simple peasant dish developed right into a culinary icon. Recco’s precise version makes use of no yeast — in contrast to the thick focaccia from Genoa
— and is predicated as an alternative on a paper-thin, unleavened dough filled with creamy Stracchino (additionally known as Crescenza)
The cheese is important: slight, sparkling, and soften-in-your-mouth gentle. Protected Status: Today, Focaccia di Recco col Formaggio is so exclusive that it has an official PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) beneath EU regulation — that means best focaccia made in Recco and a few neighbouring towns, the usage of conventional strategies and local cheese, can be offered below that name.
Cultural Symbol: The focaccia is well known each year during the Festa della Focaccia di Recco,
Whilst bakeries and restaurants serve endless trays of the recent, cheesy bread to locals and traffic. It is a proud symbol of Ligurian culinary identification and simple, first-rate components. In quick: Focaccia col Formaggio is not just bread with cheese — it’s a slice of Ligurian coastal background, made with the identical fundamental factors that sustained people centuries ago: flour, water, olive oil, and cheese This isn’t always the thick, bread-like focaccia you can recognise — it’s an extremely- skinny, crispy flatbread full of smooth, melted cheese. It’s absolutely scrumptious!
Ingredients:
For flour
- 250 grams (2 cups) all-park flour or Italian “00” flour
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 125 mL (1/2 cup) lukewarm water (add more if necessary)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt To fill:
- 250-300 grams (9-10 oz) stretchino cheese-or fresh, soft cow milk cheese like robiola, or option with a light cream cheese if you can’t find stretchino
- Additional virgin olive oil to brush
- A pinch of salt.
Instructions
Step 1: In a bowl, mix the flour and salt
Step 2: Add the olive oil and step by step add the lukewarm water, blending until you get a smooth, smooth, elastic dough. Knead for approximately five-8 mins, till easy and supple
Step 3: Cover with a cloth or plastic wrap and permit it relaxation for at the least 30 minutes at room temperature
Step 4: Preheat your oven to 250°C (480°F)
Step 5: Place a heavy baking sheet inside when you have one — this enables achieve a crispy base
Step 6: Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured floor, roll out each 1/2 as thinly as feasible — it must be nearly transparent, approximately 1 mm thick
Step 7: Place one sheet of dough on a gently oiled baking tray or parchment paper
Step 8: Spread chunks or spoonful of Stracchino cheese evenly over the bottom sheet, leaving a small border around the edges.
Step 9: Gently place the second sheet of dough on top. Seal the edges via gently pressing the layers together
Step 10: Pinch or tear a few small holes inside the top sheet to allow steam break out. Brush the top layer lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch of salt
Step 11: Bake for seven-to-ten minutes, or until the top is golden with little brown spots and the cheese is gooey and melted inner. Watch it — it cooks fast!
Step 12: Remove from the oven, reduce into squares, and serve straight away while hot and melty
Tips
- Authentic Focaccia di Recco is paper-thin, so the intention is for terribly thin sheets
- Stracchino is the conventional cheese — its mild, creamy texture is perfect for this focaccia
- It’s exceptional eaten properly away — crispy, hot, and oozing cheese!
More to know
Cultural Identity & Local Pride
Focaccia col Formaggio, the Focaccia di Recco, is a image of Liguria’s coastal meals historical past. It represents centuries-old traditions that have been exceeded down through families and bakeries. For the human beings of Recco and nearby towns, this focaccia is extra than meals — it’s a chunk of
community identification, celebrated at gala’s and guarded by way of regulation (PGI fame)
Simplicity & Ingenuity
It represents the Ligurian method of cooking a meal: taking and making something unique and
delicious from basic food (flour, water, olive oil, fizzy cheese).It suggests how necessity and shortage in coastal and mountain groups sparked culinary creativity — a reminder of the way Italian nearby cuisines are deeply linked to local conditions and history.
Culinary Uniqueness
This style might be a focaccia, like Genoese focaccia, but instead of being thick and airy, it happens to be thin, crispy, and oozing with hot cheese. The method of stretching the dough almost transparently skinny is a factor of nearby talent and satisfaction. Chefs and bakers train for years to perfect it. It’s
one among Italy’s rare examples of a filled focaccia, not like the more not unusual bread-like variations.
Protected Status
Because it is so unique it is PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) certified by the EU — it is in the same category as Parmigiano Reggiano, or Prosciutto di Parma. This guarantees it cannot be heavily produced some other place beneath the same name, supporting maintain its authenticity and help
neighborhood cheesemakers and bakers
Economic & Tourism Value
Focaccia col Formaggio draws gastronomy tourism. Many site visitors travel to Recco particularly to flavor the unique, warm from neighborhood bakeries. Festivals devoted to it draw heaps, assisting the local financial system. Restaurants in Liguria regularly spotlight it.
- It’s Paper thing:Unlike the fluffy focaccia you discover in Genoa or other elements of Italy, Focaccia di Recco is made from two ultra-skinny sheets of unleavened dough — so skinny you could almost see via them!
- No Yeast Needed: The dough has no yeast or leavening agent — it stays flat and crisp. The ethereal bubbles you notice within the crust come handiest from steam created by the melting cheese
- Stracchino is Essential: The proper cheese is Stracchino (additionally referred to as Crescenza) a sparkling, creamy, cow’s milk cheese from Lombardy and Liguria. Its smooth, meltable texture makes it best for that oozy filling
- Protected by EU Law Since 2012, Focaccia di Recco col Formaggio has had Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) repute — best focaccia made in Recco and four neighboring Ligurian cities can legally use the name under EU regulations
- It has a Festival Every year:Recco hosts the Festa della Focaccia di Recco, where bakers and eating places serve mountains of this tacky focaccia — often free of charge or at low cost — to lots of locals and travellers
- Medieval Origins: Legend says the dish dates returned to the twelfth century, while villagers fled Saracen invasions with best flour, oil, and cheese — making the primary model of this focaccia inside the Ligurian hills
- Special Baking Technique: Bakers stretch the dough with the aid of hand so thinly it needs cautious dealing with — it’s often laid over huge spherical baking trays, torn slightly on pinnacle to vent steam, and baked at high warmth for only some minutes
- Served Hot & Fast: Focaccia di Recco is great eaten piping hot, sparkling from the oven when the crust is crisp and blistered and the cheese is gooey. It’s now not meant to be saved or eaten cold!
