Week 33: Schiacciata con l’Uva

ITALY: Also known as “winemaker’s foccacia”, this salty-sweet flatbread from Tuscany is traditionally made in the fall using grapes from the harvest. The dough has just of touch of sweetness, and some of the water is replaced with a sweet white wine (both of which makes the dough a little denser than the typical airy focaccia). Next time, I think I’ll add some Gorgonzola. You could top this with any fruit on hand; I also made a version with apples and nectarines, and a sprinkling of herbs de Provence. Delizioso!

The videos below aren’t really instructional, and I didn’t understand a word, but they sure were fun to watch! One is from an Italian morning show cooking demo, and the other from a Italian bakery. I found recipes that fell into two categories: one was to make it pretty much the same way as focaccia, and the other was to roll out the dough into two portions, then layer the grapes in between the two sheets, so more like a pie, and both methods are represented in the two videos below. I also came across suggestions to use blueberries if you can’t find the wine grapes that are typically used, as they are more similar than the big red grapes pictured below.

Step 1: Prepare dough

225 grams (1 cup) water, mixed with 118g (1/2 cup) sweet white wine at 105-110 degrees
9g yeast
9 g olive oil (2 tsp)
450 g all purpose flour
9 g salt
25 g sugar
1/2 tsp anise seed, crushed
grapes, if large, cut in half

Measure out the wet ingredients in a large bowl, and stir to combine
Add the dry ingredients
Mix with the handle of a wooden spoon, or a curved, flexible dough scraper until all the dry ingredients are mixed.
Cover and let rest in a warm space (70 – 73 degrees) for 20 minutes

Step 2: Stretch and knead dough

Watch the video instructions from the first focaccia recipe posted on May 11th, here. You’ll be doing four sets of stretching the dough and letting it proof for 30 minutes. Make a note each time you do a round of stretching; I always forget how many times I’ve done it after the 2nd round.

Step 3: Spread into pan and let rest