Schiacciatine & the last edition of Italian Table Talk | Emiko Davies:
Schiacciata is a variety of flat bread, sort of like focaccia, frequently seasoned with olive oil, rosemary, etc.
The Florentines frequently use them for making sandwiches.
"Schiacciatine" presumably are little schiacciate.
"The recipe I thought must absolutely be shared with everyone is for the schiacciatine.
Any Florentine bakery worth its salt has these little round discs of
schiacciata (like a sort of Tuscan focaccia), sometimes as large as your hand, sometimes slightly larger, sometimes mini versions.
They can be baked plain, but more often than not they’re baked with a simple, single vegetable topping – sweet onions, thinly sliced tomato or maybe some sweet red pepper strips, zucchini or even zucchini flowers, if the season permits.
A few notes: Field indicates that this makes 6 six-inch schiacciate but I like them a little smaller to make 8 (even 10), a size that fits nicely in your hand.
All the resting in the shaping process is to enable the dough to relax while you stretch it to its right size.
Don’t worry, be patient.
Also, don’t be afraid to use lard; it is more traditional as an ingredient and imparts the most delightful crispness to the
schiacciata that butter just doesn’t give."
Schiacciatine Fiorentine
For the dough:
7 grams (1 small packet) active dry yeast or 18 grams fresh yeast
375 ml warm water
2 tablespoons olive oil
30 grams lard or butter, at room temperature
500 grams all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons (8 grams) salt, plus extra salt flakes for sprinkling
Olive oil for brushing tops
For the toppings:
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 tomato, thinly sliced
handful of fresh basil or thyme leaves
salt
For the dough:
Stir the yeast into the water in a large bowl and allow to stand 10 minutes until dissolved.
Add the oil and lard.
Combine the flour and salt in a wide bowl and make a well in the centre.
Pour the liquid mixture into the well and stirring from the centre, gradually incorporate the wet and dry ingredients until you have a dough.
Knead until smooth and soft, about 8-10 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and let rise, covered, until doubled in size, about 1-2 hours.
Flatten the dough slightly on a floured surface and cut into 8 even portions, rolled into balls.
Let rest under a tea towel 15 minutes.
Dimple the balls with your fingers, flattening into a disc and rest another 15 minutes, covered.
Dimple again, stretching further.
Brush discs with olive oil, sprinkle with some salt and place on baking trays lined with baking paper.
Let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size, covered with a tea towel.
Dimple the dough once more, brush again with olive oil and top with your selected toppings.
Bake at
220ºC for about 15 minutes or until golden.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
Best eaten on the day they are made.
For the toppings:
You could use any vegetables you like really — thin strips of zucchini lightly sauteed with a little garlic; some leftover
peperonata; fresh zucchini blossoms.
The important thing to remember is to only gently cook the vegetable toppings (tomato and zucchini flowers don’t even need any pre-cooking), do not brown them, they’ll get a blast of heat in the oven that will take them a little too far otherwise.
For
onion topping, gently sweat the onion slices in a knob of butter and a splash of olive oil with a pinch of salt and some fresh thyme leaves.
Don’t let the onions colour, just cook gently until they are completely soft, sweet and translucent.
For the tomato topping, simply place fresh slices of tomato on the dough, sprinkle with salt and torn basil.
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Schiacciatine & the last edition of Italian Table Talk | Emiko Davies:
- a sort of Tuscan focaccia.
They can be baked plain, but more often than not they’re baked with a simple, single vegetable topping – sweet onions, thinly sliced tomato or maybe some sweet red pepper strips, zucchini or even zucchini flowers, if the season permits.
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