Is it always necessary to to have a recirculating blow off valve on a MAF system? If so, is there any way around this so that I can use an Atmospheric one?

Kevin, you could try a 50/50 BOV or probably tune out the metered airflow with a standalone ECU. Other than that you're kinda stuck.

You need a twin chamber BOV, like the Apexi, for example. It has two chambers with a valve that can close while still allowing for appropriate pressure dump after boosting. I had this problem for months and I couldn't figure out why I was misfiring and idling lumpy ( or dying at idle!). The TC BOV solved this problem immediately.

you can try the GFB blow off valve, its dual vent...