Spelt focaccia with stracchino cheese

I saw this spelt focaccia recipe in the last paper version of the Italian food magazine La Cucina Italiana.

Well, I like spelt so much. I believe its flour (whole wheat) is really tasty and changes the taste of the bread (in better). I like so much stracchino too (an Italian soft and creamy cheese) and so put these two great ingredients together couldn’t be other than a great idea.

I prepared it yesterday when I had my children with their fiancées for lunch. I took it from the oven some minutes before lunch and I am glad to say that my son, Stefano, began to eat one after another (you can see his hand on a picture, as he quite couldn’t wait for another piece while me and my daughter, Gabriella, were taking the photos).

I changed only a couple of things from the original recipe. I left it to leaven for more than 1 hour (2 or 3) because spelt has less gluten and it needs more time. It leavened perfectly, I could even see the bubbles into the dough and it was light to eat. The other change is that it needs less cheese than the original recipe. I also added some fleur de sel on top – I just love that salty grains while crunching a piece ;-).

What else should I say? Try it! I am sure you will like it so much as we all did.

Ingredients:

• 2½ cup/250 g whole wheat spelt flour
• 2 cups/250 g flour
• ¼ cup/50 g extra virgin olive oil
• olive oil to grease and brush
• 25 g baker’s yeast
• 10.1oz/300 ml warm water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup/300 g stracchino cheese
• 1 tsp sugar
• fresh rosemary leaves
• Fleur de sel for topping (or common salt)

Instructions:

1. Melt the baker’s yeast in 10.1oz/300 ml warm water with the tsp of sugar.
2. Put it into the kneading machine and add the flours, oil and, at last, salt. Let it knead the dough a bit longer than you’d do if it was common flour. As spelt flour has less gluten, it needs more kneading.
3. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest until it doubles in size (about 2 hours, depending on the temperature in the room).
4. After this time, transfer it to a baking sheet (mine is 9.5x15in/25x38cm) abundantly greased with extra virgin olive oil and spread it to an inch (1,5cm) thickness. Brush it with extra virgin olive oil and let it rest 30 minutes more, at least.
5. Turn on the oven to 200°C/400°F.
6. Cut the cheese in pieces dividing it over the focaccia.
7. Add fresh rosemary leaves and some fleur de sel.
8. Bake it for 20 minutes to half an hour, until the cheese has melted and some cheese crusts are formed.
9. Cut it in small pieces with a pizza cutter and…
10. Buon appetito!