Focaccia col Formaggio di Recco

[Pete-zza]

Norma,

It does sound like a labeling problem.

Peter

[msheetrit]

Norma... I think I need to stop coming around here for awhile. Yours is the latest in a long line of drool-inducing creations from the gifted and accomplished cooks of this forum that is making me even fatter by simply looking at it.

Seriously, you great people are driving me insane.

I WANT to make this.

That's beautiful. Congratulations.

    you kill me every time.

beautiful work norma you are doing every thing so good.  you are the 

[norma427]

Peter,

I agree.  It’s hard enough for even me that knows a little about flours, but for someone that is just buying flour for cookies or breads, there can be other problems. I am not even sure now if the King Arthur flour I bought for this thread is AP or Bread flour.  It isn’t labeled AP, but I just took it for granted it was AP.  Their prices are cheaper at the Country Store, so maybe they will get the labeling problems straightened out. 

I will talk to the owner.  She is a friend of mine.

Norma

[norma427]

    you kill me every time.

beautiful work norma you are doing every thing so good.  you are the 

Michael,

Thanks for you kind words.  I still don’t have this kind of foccacia consistent each time.  I like to experiment, so sometimes I try out the craziest things.  I am always looking for a new kind of pizza to try. 

Norma

[Ev]

I made this myself yesterday using the same recipe as Norma. I used "Rio Briati" brand mascarpone and a little of my homemade mozz. I included a sprinkling of olive oil and sea salt before baking. I baked in a 16X16 anodized aluminum pan on a stone in my kitchen oven at 500 until it looked done, maybe 8 to 10 minutes. The flavor was very much like what Norma made at market last week, except there was no oiling off of the cheese, for whatever reason. I could not really detect the mozz. at all. Next time, I'll either add more, or leave it out altogether and see how it is. My wife loved it, being a fan of thin crusted pizza and pastry. She said I should make it all the time.

[norma427]

I made this myself yesterday using the same recipe as Norma. I used "Rio Briati" brand mascarpone and a little of my homemade mozz. I included a sprinkling of olive oil and sea salt before baking. I baked in a 16X16 anodized aluminum pan on a stone in my kitchen oven at 500 until it looked done, maybe 8 to 10 minutes. The flavor was very much like what Norma made at market last week, except there was no oiling off of the cheese, for whatever reason. I could not really detect the mozz. at all. Next time, I'll either add more, or leave it out altogether and see how it is. My wife loved it, being a fan of thin crusted pizza and pastry. She said I should make it all the time.

Steve,

Glad to see you also tried this type of pizza and your wife did love it.  Your first attempt looks a lot better than some of my attempts. Thanks for telling about how you did the bake.  I will have to see if I can find the “Rio Briati” brand of Mascarpone.  Don’t you think this kind of dough is like a rubber band?   

Great job on your Focaccia col Formaggio di Recco.    At least if you wife wants you to make this kind of pizza more, it really doesn’t take that long from start to finish.  I can't believe your wife would want this type of pizza over one baked in your WFO.  At least now she can have both.   

Norma

[dmaxdmax]

Norma,

My wife just handed me the June Vogue which has an article and recipe for this from Jeffrey Steingarten.  She wants me to try it unless she's going to have to hear me swear while trying to stretch it so thin. 

You know I'm a Reinhart fan but since this was her notion I'll try Steingarten first. The big differences I see as compared to P.R. is a lower hydration (54.7% vs 59.9%) plus quite a bit of olive oil which he says is necessary for extensibility.  He also kneads longer.  (gee - P.R. uses high hydration and low kneading - shocking!)

Vogue hasn't posted the recipe.  I'll report my results.

Dave

[norma427]

Norma,

My wife just handed me the June Vogue which has an article and recipe for this from Jeffrey Steingarten.  She wants me to try it unless she's going to have to hear me swear while trying to stretch it so thin.  

You know I'm a Reinhart fan but since this was her notion I'll try Steingarten first. The big differences I see as compared to P.R. is a lower hydration (54.7% vs 59.9%) plus quite a bit of olive oil which he says is necessary for extensibility.  He also kneads longer.  (gee - P.R. uses high hydration and low kneading - shocking!)

Vogue hasn't posted the recipe.  I'll report my results.

Dave

Dave,

I haven’t seen the recipe from Jeffrey Steingarten, but it would be interesting if you tried his recipe.  I didn’t have any problems with stretching the Peter Reinhart dough.  The Peter Reinhart dough I tried out didn’t have the olive oil and I didn’t have any problems with the stretching. (olive oil was used on the table before the roll) In my opinion, as I posted before, the dough was almost like a rubber band.  I did roll the dough some first, before I started the stretching.  The finished crust was just melt in your mouth.

Hope you post back on your results.  I would be very interested in hearing how your pie turns out.

Best of luck and hope your wife likes this style of pizza.  

Norma

[DanCole42]

Given the extreme thinness of this dough, is there any reason one couldn't greatly simplify the process by using a pasta machine?

[norma427]

Given the extreme thinness of this dough, is there any reason one couldn't greatly simplify the process by using a pasta machine?

DanCole42,

I really don’t know if a pasta machine could be use for this kind of dough or not.  When I made this dough,  the dough was really springy.  This kind of dough can easily be rolled first and then stretched.  Maybe if you are interested in trying this kind of pizza, you could use a pasta machine and see what happens.  It might be simpler to use a pasta machine, to at least start the dough, and then do stretching.

Norma

[synaesthesia]

Sorry to reply this late! Am new to the forum May 2013!

Have had an obsession with Focaccia di Recco col Formaggio, but can't get Stracchino  cheese here. I have got my hand-streching technique down, and use my dough cut offs to make a gozleme, which I fry dry on a stove top pan.

My question is the stracchino substitute: mozzarella doesn't work for me, and I have used Quark with great results. Tried cottage cheese which is 1/3 price of Quark and it works ut you'd have to strain or press the cheese to remove some liquid. Have tried a farmer's cheese but it is too dry. I can make some stracchino I suppose but we're a small family and as much as love there is only some much I can consume!

Any suggestions on the cheese substitutes?

[norma427]

Sorry to reply this late! Am new to the forum May 2013!

Have had an obsession with Focaccia di Recco col Formaggio, but can't get Stracchino  cheese here. I have got my hand-streching technique down, and use my dough cut offs to make a gozleme, which I fry dry on a stove top pan.

My question is the stracchino substitute: mozzarella doesn't work for me, and I have used Quark with great results. Tried cottage cheese which is 1/3 price of Quark and it works ut you'd have to strain or press the cheese to remove some liquid. Have tried a farmer's cheese but it is too dry. I can make some stracchino I suppose but we're a small family and as much as love there is only some much I can consume!

Any suggestions on the cheese substitutes?

synaesthesia,

Welcome to the forum!    I haven't played around with cheeses for Focaccia col Formaggio di Recco for a long while.  Maybe if I am ever in Philly I can find some Stracchino cheese to try.  Sorry, I can not be of more help.

Do you have photos of you making Focaccia col Formaggio di Recco?  If you have photos I would be interested in seeing them.   

Norma

[synaesthesia]

Here are some pics of one made a couple of months ago. The cheese was quark. I use a circular dish for the focaccia and the cut offs get rolled and cooked as a gozleme, with feta and spinach. 100g of flour = 1 X 12" focaccia and 1 decent sized gozleme.

BTW, I was in Philly in April! Genuflected at the wall of sound across Ginos and Pat's, then mangiare! Pat's  Cheese Steak wit onions!
Walked through little Italy looking for Stracchino, no luck!

[norma427]

Here are some pics of one made a couple of months ago. The cheese was quark. I use a circular dish for the focaccia and the cut offs get rolled and cooked as a gozleme, with feta and spinach. 100g of flour = 1 X 12" focaccia and 1 decent sized gozleme.

BTW, I was in Philly in April! Genuflected at the wall of sound across Ginos and Pat's, then mangiare! Pat's  Cheese Steak wit onions!
Walked through little Italy looking for Stracchino, no luck!

synaesthesia,

Your focaccia looks very good  , and much better than my attempts.  I don't think I can find the quark cheese in my area, but the quark cheese sounds very interesting.  What dough formulation did you use and how did you prepare your dough? 

Did you go to the 9th Street Italian Market while you were in Philly?  I visited the Italian Market and think they might have some Stracchino, because they have so many kinds of cheese there that I never heard of before.  If I go there again I will look for some Stracchino. I can't really recall right, but think I did see Stracchino cheese at the 9th St. Italian Market.   http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,19792.0.html   

Norma

[synaesthesia]

The recipe I started with  is 250g flour, 25ml olive oil, 125 ml water, 250g of cheese, though these days I just measure 100g of flour, drizzle some oil by eye, and add water to make a workable dough. I add cheese to my liking by eye. I think I use less cheese that a proper one.

I just spent a lot of time watching this video to get my technique in stretching dough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smFn7pZlFcI

That rotund lady in the video is my focaccia di recco inspiration!

The proper recipe of course is here:http://www.focacciadirecco.it/index.php/en/la-focaccia/metodo-di-produzione.html

I have tried various brands of quark and some need to be strained a little bit to remove excess water.