Ricotta Cheese Focaccia Pie

If you take a look at my recipe instructables it's easy to understand that focaccia bread is one of the things I love the most.
I love it because it tastes so good just plain, but it is also perfect when matched with other things like cold cuts and cheese or anything you like. And let's not forget that focaccia is the base for pizza! :D

This focaccia recipe is different than the regular one because there's no yeast, water or oil in it. The main ingredient for the dough is ricotta cheese. It may sound strange (it did to me), but its consistency is just like a regular focaccia's one and the taste is just as good. Ricotta gives a very delicate flavour to it.
Plus no yeast means less time because it doesn't need to rise! You can start to make it an hour before you want to eat it: perfect as a last minute recipe!

This focaccia is composed just like a pie and I filled it with ham and mozzarella cheese. You can fill it with anything you like!

Ingredients

200gr (a little less than 1 cup) ricotta cheese
200gr (1.6 cups) all purpose flour
80gr (5.5 tbs) room temperature butter
1 tbs grated parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
a little bit of olive oil

For the filling:

ham
1 mozzarella of about 125gr (4.40 oz)

Put the Ingredients Together

Place your ricotta cheese in a big bowl and add the flour.
Cut your butter in small pieces and put it in the bowl too.
Add the parmesan cheese.
Finally adjust with salt and some pepper (if you like it).

Make the Dough

Mix all the ingredients with your hands. You can do it with a mixer too, but doing it with your hand will break and mix the butter with the other ingredients in a better way. It doesn't take long and it's very easy to do :)
Knead with your hands until your dough is compact.

Divide the dough in 2. These 2 pieces need to be about the same size.

Flatten the Dough

First of all you need to prepare your round pan putting some parchment paper in it. I used this pan that was perfect for this amount of dough.

Take your first half of dough, place it in the pan and press it with your fingers to flatten it. You need to cover the whole pan's surface (sides excluded) this way.
When you are done, prick the dough with a fork.

Add the Filling

Lay your ham (or whatever you like) on the piece of dough that you flattened in the pan, making sure to leave some free dough all around, to be able to close it later.
Slice your mozzarella and put it on the ham. You can also cut it in smaller pieces if you prefer.

Cover Everything!

Flatten the other half of your dough, just like you did to the first piece. It must be that same size, which is the pan's size.
I used a pastry mat as "table" to flatten the dough on. It's very useful because the main pan's sizes are drawn on it so you can flatten your dough following those signs.
You can use a rolling pin to flatten this dough if you want.

Now lift the dough disc with your hands and lay it on the ham and mozzarella, right in the pan.
Push it a little to make the air come out and use your fingers to press the borders. Use a fork to press them even better and make sure that the focaccia is closed.

Again, prick the disc with a fork, and spread some olive oil over the top.

Bake!

Preheat your oven and bake at 200°C (400F) for 30 minutes.

Enjoy your warm focaccia with all the melted cheese!
If you prefer, you can let it cool and eat it later...it's just as good!