Cacio e Pepe (Yes, Like the Pasta) Focaccia

Deputy food editor and self-proclaimed devilish mind Hana Asbrink floated the idea of this mash-up focaccia at 3:30 on a Thursday afternoon. By 3:36 the plan to make this fluffy, crispy, spicy, cheesy monster was well underway. In recipe development world, that’s faster than fast. (Find recipes for the two dishes that inspired it here: Cacio e Pepe Pasta and Shockingly Easy No-Knead Focaccia.)

It took making four focaccia with 1 oz., then 2 oz., then 3 oz., and finally 4 oz. cheese to see that in this rare case, sometimes more cheese is simply too much cheese. Where 4 oz. weighed the bread down and compacted the crumb, 3 oz. was just right. Using a sharp Pecorino that’s been aged for at least six to eight months and grating it finely was the key to this Goldilocks texture and flavor: light and airy but cheesy enough to be undeniably cacio e pepe. Speaking of finely grated cheese, here is a moment where you skip the Microplane and use your blender instead. Why? The Microplane makes the cheese almost too fine, causing it to be papery, dry, and thirsty, absorbing too much liquid from the dough. Plus, it takes a long time and a lot of arm strength to grate the full 3 oz. needed. Here, we cut the cheese into walnut-size cubes and give them a whirl until a powdery, pebbly dust emerges. (Use the video clips below as your guide.) If your blender is old, cut the cubes into even smaller pieces—and send up a prayer before blitzing them.

The process of folding the dough is a gentle, time-tested way of building strength and structure with minimal effort, especially in slack doughs such as this one. Using wet hands rather than floured or oiled works remarkably well at reducing sticky messes.

Note that the recipe uses instant yeast—my yeast of choice here. If you insist on using active dry yeast, increase the amount to ¾ tsp., dissolve it in the water first, and be prepared for longer rise times and potentially more erratic performance.

As always, using a digital scale as weighing your ingredients is the only way to ensure consistent, excellent results. Your focaccia thanks you in advance.