Cheese Focaccia with Red Onion and Parmesan

Name: Cheese Focaccia with Onion and Parmesan - Easy Recipe
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Pizza dough 500 g; Fresh young cheese (farmer's cheese) 300 g; Parmesan 50 g; Garlic 2 cloves; Onion (red) 1; Parsley 5-6 sprigs; Wine vinegar 1 tbsp (for the onion); Black pepper to taste; Olive oil 3 tbsp (for the pan, filling and top); Spices to taste (for the top, optional); Egg yolk 1 (instead of oil for the top, optional)

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1 h 30 mins

In ancient times, when pizza was everyday food for Rome’s poor and was sold right on the street, it was simply a piece of bread with a modest topping spread over it: spices, olive oil, garlic, herbs. In the countryside they made it even more simply: a flatbread dressed with olive oil and garlic. That is how focaccia came about, the forerunner of pizza.

It is much easier to make than pizza, though you can’t call focaccia a simplified pizza. Today it has earned a worthy place in Italian cooking, often taking the place of bread. And quite often it is eaten as bread, given how little topping it has. Focaccia is a traditional Italian yeast bread. They say that in pizza the topping matters most, and in focaccia the bread.

The word “focaccia” most likely comes from the ancient hearth that stood in the middle of the kitchen and was called the focus. Another plausible origin is flatbread baked in ashes: panis focacius. I read somewhere that soldiers baked bread right on their shields. Over time the filling of focaccia became heartier and more varied.

Every region of Italy has its own recipes and traditions. In Bari, a port city in Apulia, they bake focaccia Barese, filled with tomatoes or potatoes. In Genoa there is focaccia Genovese, a very thin flatbread with onion and olive oil. And Liguria has its own cheese focaccia.

We will make a bread much like the one made in Liguria, focaccia di Recco, but with a more varied filling: fresh young cheese, red onion and herbs. Some may say it is a closed pizza.

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Ingredients

2 servings

For the base
Pizza dough 500 g
For the filling
Fresh young cheese (farmer’s cheese) 300 g
Parmesan 50 g
Garlic 2 cloves
Onion (red) 1
Parsley 5-6 sprigs
Wine vinegar 1 tbsp (for the onion)
Black pepper to taste
For the pan and glaze
Olive oil 3 tbsp (for the pan, filling and top)
Spices to taste (for the top, optional)
Egg yolk 1 (instead of oil for the top, optional)

Step-by-step recipe

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Dough and filling

The filling can be anything you like. Try basil and parsley with olive oil and garlic, lightly boiled spinach, or tomatoes with the skin and seeds removed. Let your imagination run.
Make the pizza dough. While it is getting ready, prepare the filling ingredients.
Pickle the onion ahead of time, as this sharpens its flavor. Peel it and cut it into very thin strips, pour 1 tbsp of wine vinegar over it and leave it to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Mash the young cheese with a fork, or grate it: ricotta or homemade farmer’s cheese (even Imeretian or Adyghe cheese will do).
Grate the Parmesan and chop it in a blender together with the garlic and parsley leaves.

Assembly

Roll the dough out into two even rounds, the size of your pizza pan. The dough should be at least 5 mm thick. Grease the pan with olive oil, lay the first round of dough on it and be sure to prick it with a fork.
Layer the filling. Sprinkle half of the Parmesan (25 g) and parsley mixture over the dough in the pan, leaving a 2-3 cm margin around the edge.
Spread the pickled onion over the whole surface.
Put the young cheese on top of the onion and press it down lightly with your hands. Cheese focaccia should be thin.
Scatter the rest of the Parmesan and parsley on top, add pepper and sprinkle with olive oil.
Cover the filling with the second round of dough.
Carefully pinch the edges together so that the focaccia is well sealed inside. It is best to press the pinched edges down firmly with your fingers or the back of a fork. Prick the top round in several places with a fork.
Glaze the top of the focaccia. From here there are options: you can brush it with olive oil and sprinkle on spices, or brush it with egg yolk. Do whatever you like.

Baking

Let the focaccia rest for 15 minutes while you heat the oven to 180°C.
Bake for 15 minutes until golden, keeping an eye on the dough. You may need to add a little time.

Serving

Cut the finished focaccia into pieces with a rolling pizza cutter.
Focaccia is delicious both hot and cold, especially with tomato juice or a meat soup, or on its own as a main dish.

Calories and macros

1485 kcal

Serving ≈ 460 g

Protein64 g18% of kcal
Fat81 g50% of kcal
Carbs119 g33% of kcal

100 g322 kcalProtein 13.9 gFat 17.6 gCarbs 25.9 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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