Focaccia di Recco

Documented in Recco, a Ligurian coastal town, since the 12th century when Saracen raids drove villagers inland with only flour, oil, and the local stracchino curds; the unleavened dough was a fast bread that needed no waiting. Recco's version earned EU IGP protection in 2015 (Regulation (EU) 2015/39), restricting production to four neighboring towns.

Documented in Recco since the 12th century, when Saracen raids drove villagers inland with only flour, oil, and the local stracchino curds — unleavened dough was a fast bread that needed no waiting. IGP-protected since 2012, restricted to four neighboring towns. Stracchino must be young (under 10 days) — aged stracchino seizes instead of melting. 280-300°C oven blasts the top before the bottom dries.

Two paper-thin sheets of unleavened dough sandwiching molten stracchino cheese, baked at high heat until the top blisters into golden-black bubbles. Cut into rough squares; the cheese pulls in long strings and the crust shatters. Eaten standing, immediately — within twenty minutes the cheese sets and the dough goes leathery.

No yeast is the point: the dough is just flour, water, oil, salt, stretched by hand to translucency over the cheese. Stracchino must be young (under 10 days) — aged stracchino seizes instead of melting. The 280–300°C oven blasts the top before the bottom dries; a domestic 220°C oven gives a pale, tough version.