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This Italian focaccia with vegan melted cheese is thin, crisp, melty, stringy and packed with flavour. It’s the perfect meal to share with friends, and you can eat it as a starter, main, or as an indulgent Sunday brunch.
This recipe is inspired by “focaccia di Recco”, a traditional Italian focaccia.
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EQUIPMENT
– Baking trays to cook the focaccia: we used a round one that is 28 cm or 11 inches, and a rectangular one that is 40cm x 30 cm or 16 x 12 inches.
– Rolling pin
– Whisk
– Small pot
INGREDIENTS LIST
🌱 Focaccia Dough
300 g (2 cups) flour all-purpose or bread flour
140 g (0.6 cups) water
30 g (2.5 tbsp) olive oil
3 g (½ tsp) salt
🌱 Vegan Cheese
370 g (1½ cups) soy milk unsweetened
50 g (6½ tbsp) potato starch
15 g (2 tbsp) corn starch
20 g (1½ tbsp) olive oil
8 g (1½ tbsp) nutritional yeast
3 g (½ tsp) salt
190 g (⅘ cups) soy yogurt unsweetened
500 g (17.5 oz) spinach optional
INSTRUCTIONS
🌱 Make the dough
– In a bowl, add the flour, water, oil and salt, and mix with a fork until the water is absorbed by the flour.
– Transfer the dough onto a worktop and knead vigorously with your hand for 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth and elastic. You can use a kitchen aid if you prefer. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.
– While the dough rests, make the vegan melted cheese.
🌱 Make the melted vegan cheese
– In a pot, add soy milk, potato starch, corn starch, olive oil, nutritional yeast, and salt. Stir with a whisk till there are no lumps. Then on medium heat bring the liquid to a boil while stirring continuously. Keep stirring until the liquid becomes thick and very stringy.
– Take off the heat, keep stirring vigorously for another minute, then add the soy yogurt and stir very well.
– You should see the ingredients relax and turn into a smooth, lightly stringy consistency. Your vegan melted cheese is ready. Set aside.
🌱Build the focaccia
– First, preheat the oven to 230C or 450F. Now you need to make two very thin sheets of dough that fit your baking tray. With this recipe we were able to fill a round tray that is 28 cm (11 inches), and a rectangular one that is 40cm x 30 cm (16 x 12 inches). You can use different shapes and sizes.
-Take half of the dough and roll it as thin as you can with a rolling pin. Dust with flour if the dough sticks to the worktop or to the rolling pin.
– Then, when you are not able to make it any thinner, take it with your hands and stretch it. Ideally, the sheet of dough should be almost see-through.
– Put the first sheet of dough on a well oiled baking tray.
– With the help of two spoons, add the vegan melted cheese. At this stage you can also add spinach.
– Roll another sheet of dough like you did before and put it on top of the baking tray, covering it completely. Cut off the dough in excess and push push down the edges to create a sealed rim.
– Pinch some holes on the top layer, where the dough meets the cheese. Then add add a mixture made with 2tbsp of water + 2 tbsp of olive oil + pinch of salt. Alternatively you can just drizzle with some olive oil.
– Bake in a preheated oven at 230C or 450F for a total of about 16 minutes. Bake the first 13 minutes with the tray touching the bottom of the oven. Finish the last 3 minutes on the middle rack.
– Depending on how thin you rolled the dough, it can take a minute or two longer to cook. In any case, it should be very crispy on top and the crust should be golden with some brownish spots.
STORAGE
This crisp focaccia with vegan melted cheese is best eaten straight out of the oven, while still warm, melty and crisp. If you have some leftover, you can store it in an airtight container for 24 hours, and then reheat it in the oven for about 5 to 10 minutes, until very warm again. The biggest challenge when storing this focaccia is that the dough won’t be as crisp as on the first day.
CHAPTERS
0:00 How to make focaccia dough
1:48 How to make vegan melted cheese
3:56 How to roll the focaccia very thin
5:06 How build the focaccia
8:08 Focaccia w. spinach and cheese
These recipes are 100% plant-based (#vegan), and so without milk, without butter, without cheese, without eggs, and without any animal-based products.
Music by Ottom
Contacts
✉️ Nico: nico@theplantbasedschool.com
✉️ Louise: louise@theplantbasedschool.com
Italia Plant Based
Filmed & Edited by Louise
Made with ❤ in our little Italian kitchen.
Nico & Louise 🙂