Focaccia di Recco

Knead all purpose flour, a little salt, a little olive oil and cold water to a very soft, elastic but not sticky dough, adding more flour as needed.

Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for one hour to rest and hydrate.

Very lightly grease a quarter sheet pan with olive oil and give it a very light sprinkling of cornmeal.

Dust the rested dough with flour and divide it in half for two focaccias, then cut each half in half again.

Roll one quarter out with a rolling pin into a rough rectangle.

Pick it up with well-floured hands and stretch it over the backs of the hands, turning so the weight of the dough stretches it, until it is a very thin, almost membrane-like sheet large enough to lie over the pan; patch any holes.

Place six nice dollops of the cheese over the bottom sheet.

Roll and stretch the second quarter the same way, lay it over the top, stretch it corner by corner and seal it to the bottom sheet with air trapped inside.

Run the rolling pin along the edge of the pan to cut the excess dough off, then roll the edges down with a thumb to seal, without leaving a thick crust of dough.

Pinch, pull and tear two or three small holes in the top.

Preheat the oven to 500.

Drizzle a little more olive oil over the top and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

Bake in the centre of a 500 degree oven about six or seven minutes, until the top is browned and crusty; it will puff up.

Push any leaked cheese back under the crust with a spatula, transfer to a platter and cut into quarters.

Best with a handful of arugula tossed in olive oil, folded up New York City style.