Recco-style focaccia with cheese

Dear friends, today we begin a collaboration with the website Viva La Focaccia, full of video recipes, ideas, hints and tips for those of us fond of the ‘white art’ (and more!). The site is run by our friend and colleague Victor, and it begins with this fabulous recipe for focaccia Recco-style, just for you! This cheese focaccia from the town of Recco is a delicious Ligurian specialty. Not many people know how to make it, but it’s not difficult: the ingredients you need are stracchino cheese and Manitoba flour, which has a high gluten content. Another important aspect concerns the temperature of the oven: turn it up to its maximum, 250 to 300°C degrees is fine. The high temperature will allow the bread to cook in just 7-8 minutes: the dough will have time to cook, while the cheese will melt but not dry out. The dough is easy to make. The difficulty is the arrangement of the dough in the tray, but with a bit of practice you can be an expert focaccia-maker just by following our instructions. To work!

Mix the water and oil. Add the salt and then add the flour gradually. Knead until the dough is elastic. Tightly cover it with cling film so that the surface is not exposed otherwise when you roll it out it will break up. Leave to rest for at least 2 hours. Grease a baking tray with a little oil. Sprinkle your work surface with flour. Cut out a cube of dough and roll it out evenly (no need to make it too thin, just down to a thickness of 2 cm). Take off your wristwatch and any bracelets and wet the back of your hands. Take the dough and place it on the backs of your hands and let its weight hang itself down. Spin the dough using the back of your hands so that the dough enlarges evenly. Arrange it on the baking sheet and spread it out so that it cover the base completely. Sprinkle the pieces of soft cheese across the surface of the dough. Make a second layer of dough using the same procedure and use it to cover the first cheese layer, making sure it hangs over the edge of the tray and is sealed well around the border. Press the edges down so that the top layer sticks well to the bottom layer, and use a knife or spatula to cut off the excess dough. Now make some holes in the upper layer of the dough so that the warm air can get out during cooking, otherwise it swells and burns. At this point I prefer to cover it and let it rest for a 30-60 minutes, but if you are in a hurry you can bake it right away. Before baking, the sprinkle the surface with salt and a little oil. Bake in the oven at as hot a setting as possible (280-300°C) for 7-9 minutes. Each oven has its own character, so you'll have to adjust the cooking time to suit your equipment.