Flatbread with a sweet filling (nº 23)

inspired by focaccia di Recco, which I guess is having a moment

Good morning—

You know when you think you have a really unique idea and then evidence reminds you that, in fact, you share air with billions of people and have breathed it in just like them? That’s how I felt this morning when I saw this feature in the New York Times. I’d been thinking about (and making versions of) its subject, focaccia di Recco, since last spring and was typing up my findings — sure that barely anyone outside of Liguria had heard of the dish — when the days-old Times story came across my screen.

Well, luckily, the recipe I planned to share today isn’t a traditional focaccia di Recco at all, despite having been inspired by it. I’ll explain below. (It involves a fruit-sweetened White Chocolate-Hazelnut-Praline Spread*.)

Have a pleasant week. Talk to you soon.

Brian

P.S. Remember to scroll down for the recipe.

*Formal Assignment P.S. is for paid subscribers. It’s just $5 a month—or even less for an annual subscription.

INTRO:
Focaccia di Recco — and how I turned it into something else entirely

Focaccia di Recco’s two layers of dough are stretched paper thin to a diameter you could fit four of your friends’ faces on, then they’re filled with oozy crescenza cheese and briefly baked in an extremely hot oven. The result is a crispy, bubbled, and huge focaccia (nothing like the pillowy, spongy yeasted bread most of us associate with the word) with a savory molten filling.

I first heard of focaccia di Recco last spring via Joseph Trivelli, a head chef at The River Cafe London; We were discussing farinata, another Ligurian specialty, for a story I was writing, and Trivelli mentioned that the farinata pan could also be used to make the thin-crusted, cheesy focaccia. In the weeks that followed, I cobbled together a recipe from online Italian sources (recipes didn’t vary much) and tried my hand at versions with cheese (though not crescenza) and with a plant-based “cheese” concoction of my own making; I baked them in both a paella pan (the closest thing I have to a farinata pan) and directly on a pizza steel. (The latter worked best.) It was good, but I wasn’t blown away. That’s very likely due to the fact that I used what cheese I had in my fridge rather than seeking out the one called for (I, too, need a rude reminder from time to time that some recipes are best executed as written).

The idea of a sweet filling crept in, so I came up with a date-sugar-sweetened white chocolate hazelnut praline spread. I worked some spelt flour into the dough, just to welcome some whole grains into the mix. To make the uncooked focaccia more wieldy, I divided the dough into eight pieces, rather than two — to yield four small focaccias, instead of one massive one. And in the interest of time and gas/electrical consumption, I abandoned the oven for the stovetop and a nonstick pan. The result: not a focaccia di Recco! — but a sweet, nutty, crispy/chewy snack that is fun to make (the stretching of the dough, watching the bubbles appear and brown in the heat of the pan: I call that fun).

(If you do want to make a focaccia di Recco, you can use the dough I describe below. Just sandwich crescenza cheese within it and bake it for a few minutes in a very hot oven (500 degrees F or higher) until crisp, bubbled, and browned in spots.)

RECIPE:
FLATBREAD with HAZELNUT WHITE CHOCOLATE PRALINE FILLING

Yield: 4 servings (four 8.5-in/22-cm flatbreads)
Active Time: 55 minutes (plus 15m for the Hazelnut-White Chocolate-Praline Spread)
Total Time: 1 hour 55 minutes

The finished filled flatbread

For the filling:

200g Hazelnut-White Chocolate-Praline Spread (recipe linked)

For the dough:

120g “00” flour (or bread flour in a pinch)
40g spelt flour (or 40g additional “00” flour)
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
85g tepid water
1 tsp olive oil

PREPARATION:

1. Mix and knead the dough: In a stand mixer bowl, combine the flours, salt, water, and oil. With the dough hook, knead on low speed until the dough is smooth and supple, 10-15 minutes.

Kneading the dough

2. Divide and rest: Use a bench scraper or a sharp knife to divide the dough into 8 equal pieces (31-32 grams each), then roll each into a tight ball. Let them rest in an airtight container at room temperature for an hour or so, at which point the dough should feel relaxed and elastic.

3. Stretch, fill, seal: With a lightly floured work surface, hands, and rolling pin, flatten one of the dough balls as much as possible, then pick it up and use your hands to gradually stretch the disc’s diameter to about 8.5 inches/22 cm. Set it aside on a large sheet of parchment and repeat with three more pieces of dough, for a total of four bases.

Spread 50g (about 3 tablespoons) of praline spread onto each dough base, leaving a 1/2-inch/1-cm border at the circumference.

Roll and stretch the remaining four pieces of dough in the same manner you did the first four, and place each over the paste-covered bases. Seal the perimeter by pressing firmly with a figer, making sure not to leave any unsealed spots.

Stretching the flatbread dough

Filling and sealing

4. Cook: Preheat a large nonstick pan (I used a wok, simply because that’s the only nonstick pan I have) over medium heat for 5 minutes. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side; There should be nicely browned spots, lots of bubbles, and the dough should appear dry. Be careful not to overcook, as you risk burning the filling.

Cooking the flatbread

STORAGE: It’s best to eat these flatbreads immediately, but they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a day; reheat in a toaster oven before serving.