Ingredient

Stracchino (Crescenza)

Stracchino / Crescenza

The soft, milky, tangy fresh cheese at the heart of focaccia di Recco — spreadable, quick-melting, barely aged.

By FocacciaRecipe editorial · Updated 2026-07-14

Quick answer

Stracchino, also called crescenza, is a soft, fresh, spreadable Italian cow’s-milk cheese with a milky, gently tangy flavor and almost no rind. It melts fast and stays creamy, which is exactly why it fills the thin, blistered focaccia di Recco. Keep it cold until the moment you use it, and dot it in soft spoonfuls rather than slices.

What it is

Stracchino is a soft, quick-ripened cow’s-milk cheese from northern Italy (Lombardy and Liguria especially), traditionally made from the milk of "tired" cows brought down from Alpine pastures — the name comes from stracco, dialect for tired. It is barely aged, so it is pale, moist, spoonably soft, and mildly tangy rather than sharp.

The version most bakers meet is sold as crescenza or crescenza-stracchino: rindless, delicate, and spreadable like a thick cream. It is a fresh cheese, meant to be eaten young, not a melting block like mozzarella.

Why it defines focaccia di Recco

Focaccia di Recco is the famous Ligurian cheese focaccia: two paper-thin, unleavened sheets of dough enclosing pockets of soft cheese, baked hot and fast until blistered and molten. Stracchino is the classic filling because it melts almost instantly and stays creamy and pourable, without the stringiness of an aged melting cheese.

Recco focaccia is a distinct thing from ordinary pan focaccia — thin, cheese-filled, and crisp — and stracchino is what makes its molten centre work. A recco-style bake with stracchino is the honest way to chase that texture at home.

Choosing, handling, and substitutes

Buy stracchino or crescenza from an Italian deli or a well-stocked cheese counter, and use it within a few days — it is a fresh cheese and does not keep long. Keep it refrigerated right up to the moment it goes on the dough; cold cheese holds its shape as you dot it and melts cleanly in the oven.

If you cannot find stracchino, the closest substitutes are other soft, fresh, tangy cheeses: crescenza (the same family), a young robiola, or, at a stretch, a mix of a mild soft cheese with a little cream cheese for spreadability. They will not be identical, but they chase the same molten, milky result — say so rather than calling it true Recco.

Where to buy it

Italian delis and dedicated cheese counters are the reliable sources; look for crescenza or stracchino sold soft and rindless, with a clean milky smell and a use-by within a few days. It is a fresh cheese, so buy it close to when you will bake.

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Frequently asked

Is stracchino the same as crescenza?: Effectively yes for baking — crescenza is a soft, fresh stracchino-family cheese and is often sold under either name. Both are the spreadable, milky, tangy cheese used in focaccia di Recco.
What can I use instead of stracchino?: A young robiola, more crescenza, or a mild soft cheese loosened with a little cream cheese. They approximate the molten, milky centre; they are substitutes, not true stracchino.
Can I use mozzarella for focaccia di Recco?: It is not traditional and behaves differently — mozzarella turns stringy and weeps water. Stracchino stays creamy and pourable, which is what Recco’s thin, molten filling needs.

Sources & notes: Stracchino/crescenza description and Recco context per common Ligurian culinary usage.