The Gluten-Free Focaccia di Recco is the gluten-free version of the well-known Ligurian cheese focaccia.
In Genoese dialect “fugassa de Réccu” is a cheese focaccia, yeast-free, typical of Recco and nearby towns.
According to the original recipe, it consists of two very thin layers of dough made from flour and olive oil filled inside (not on top) with stracchino, which has now replaced the original prescinsêua (considered too liquid and acidic) and formaggetta.
The restaurateurs of the Recco area, in an effort to protect the product from low-quality imitations, first registered the trademark “Authentic Focaccia with Recco Cheese” in 1997 as the Recco Gastronomic Consortium, and then in the early 21st century as the Recco Cheese Focaccia Consortium, seeking protection under the Protected Geographical Indication.
And since 2011, the Focaccia di Recco with Cheese bears the PGI mark, so similar products, marketed outside the Recco, Sori, Camogli, and Avegno areas, can no longer legally have names containing references to “Recco”.
My version includes a mix of buckwheat flour, potato starch, and cornflour, combined with spirulina, and filled with stracchino.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking methods: Oven, Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups buckwheat flour
- 3/4 cup gluten-free potato starch
- 1/2 cup cornstarch (or rice starch)
- 10 oz stracchino cheese
- 2 tbsp spirulina powder
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/4 cups water
- to taste salt
Tools
- 1 Baking Pan copper pan 14 inches
Steps
Mix the powders, add the water gradually until a soft dough is obtained.
Let it rest for at least half an hour by wrapping the dough in cling film.
Divide the dough into two, roll each part into a very thin sheet.
Grease the copper mold and line with the first sheet.
Distribute the stracchino, cover with the other sheet (don’t worry if the stracchino leaks out).
Bake in the oven at 446°F for 15 minutes.
Similar to Focaccia di Recco is the one from Arenzano (GE), which includes the use of yeast and, as a filling between the two layers of dough, sour cream and fontina cheese.
▶️You can purchase Spirulina on the Ethos Sostenibile website with a 10% discount using the code 🛑SELENE10 🛑 or by clicking directly HERE.
