Three-flour focaccia with cheese. Ancient flavors and modern textures.
I didn’t want to make the usual focaccia — although it’s very good — I felt like experimenting; now that I’ve tried the blend again I can share this recipe.
The corn adds character and, being coarser, a warmer color that also enriches the look. The re-milled semolina gives crispness and finally the type 0 flour provides elasticity and extra structure.
For the dough I used a medium-high hydration, 60%, rosemary-infused oil and a soft, slightly tangy cheese aged about twenty days. It’s an ideal substitute for Squacquerone DOP (Romagna cow’s milk fresh cheese), which I particularly love because of its creamy texture that suits focacce and also piadine with prosciutto crudo 🙂😋. So choose whichever you prefer.
Below are other suggestions for making tasty focaccias.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 5 Hours
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 5
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
For the three-flour focaccia, you will need the ingredients listed below
- 10.6 oz (about 1 3/4 cups) finely ground durum semolina
- 8.8 oz (about 2 cups) type 0 wheat flour
- 5.3 oz (about 1 1/4 cups) cornmeal
- 1 cube (about 0.9 oz / 25 g) fresh baker's yeast (compressed)
- 1 2/3 cups (about 13.5 fl oz) water (Warm)
- 3 1/3 tbsp (about 1.7 fl oz) olive oil (I used rosemary-infused oil that I prepare myself with dried rosemary. You can also add half a teaspoon of rosemary powder (perhaps ground in a coffee grinder) or very finely chopped rosemary.)
- 2 1/2 tsp (about 0.5 oz) salt (It may seem little, but the cheese already has its own particular saltiness.)
- as needed olive oil (To grease the pan.)
Useful tools for the focaccia
Bowl or stand mixer. Baking pan(s); you can also make single portions. For good home proofing: a small pot of boiling water to place in the oven to help the dough rise. The tools I use can be found in my buying tips.
- Baking pans
- Glasses
A good start ensures a great focaccia. Here are the simple steps
Prepare all the ingredients, weighing each one to make the process easier.
Combine the three flours and the salt; mix well.
Add the oil and the warm water with the yeast dissolved in it. Knead for a long time.
The dough should be elastic and soft. It won’t hold its shape very well.
Oil a bowl and place the dough inside. Let it rise in the oven with a small pot of boiling water if you don’t have other methods. This works very well.
After the required time, divide into equal portions if you prefer single servings, or shape into two rectangular pans. Oil well and spread the portions using your fingertips. Let rest for about another hour and…
Add the cheese in flakes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 428°F for about 30 minutes, on the middle rack.
Excellent just out of the oven. Also ideal to take with you for eating outdoors. I served it for dinner with wild salad and black kale pesto.
From the picture you can also see that you’ll get a good crumb structure.
A few extra tips
The secret to a great focaccia is not to rush: knead for a long time, wait for the rise, use good flours, and warm (but not too hot) water because water that is too hot will stop the yeast.
