Schiacciata all'uva

[carioca]

Not exactly the first attempt to bake in our new WFO, since I made a quick yeasted wholemeal loaf yesterday (see Picasa Web Albums - carioca - Forno_del_gallo ) - but the first fancy, pizza-like fare...

Following Daniel Leader's recipe for schiacciata all'uva, I made six mini-pizzas and baked them for 15 minutes.

While waiting for the dough to rise, I consulted a German tome on baking in WFOs. Amazingly, the author described a communal oven that had been restored by the local firebrigade at Stommeln near Cologne, where one of my forebears, Heinrich Huesch, was a baker around 1800! So it looks like - after other ancestors spurned the ancient profession and went into teaching, public service and the corps diplomatique, it seems to fall to this former bum to take up the tradition at 72... I find that I've got a lot to learn!

Interestingly, the communal WFOs in my Rhenish birthlands were made from tufa, the soft compressed ash from volcanic eruptions that I remember well from the Eifel mountains where I spent part of my youth. This 'rock' absorbs heat fast, and releases it very slowly - I suppose that at the same time it works as insulation, but don't hold me to this :-)

To return to our schiacciata: they had a good bottom crust, but the top heat needs attention = perhaps I should have stoked the fire a bit more before moving the coals aside...

In any case, Bianca and I had great fun eating the little pizzas, sitting on the gravel surrounding Forno del gallo, intently watched by five geese, and critiquing my 'first' effort. Getting the things off the peel was a bit of a hassle - I managed to shake off most of the topping before the schiacciatas slid onto the hearth...

I mentioned that I had used the wrong grapes: Leader wanted seedless ones, which we didn't have. "The Americans are funny," I told Bianca, "they want immaculate conception and seedless grapes..." (This launched us into a critique of our eldest, who's finishing his PhD in the U.S. and intends to take up a posting at a renowned university, but il ne faut pas charrier!)

Cheers,

LMH

[arevalo53anos]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

Carioca:

Could you post the recipe, please?

[carioca]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

Ola Luis!

what about the copyright Daniel Leader holds in stuff included in his book, Local Breads?

Is it o.k. to just excerpt and paraphrase one recipe? I'll reflect on this and be guided by other opinions if any crop up :-)

(Perhaps if I put it in a personal message to you, rather than 're-publishing' it???)

Ate ja (sorry, lost the accent...)

Luiz

[CanuckJim]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

Carioca,

Don't forget, we're modifying recipes for use in a WFO. I don't think there's a problem sharing the formula amongst ourselves. It's not for profit after all, and it gives Leader free publicity. I just got his Local Breads, and mighty fine it is too. I'll be making the Schiacciata today, BUT I managed to get my hands on the proper grapes , so doubtless mine will be more authentic .

Jim

[arevalo53anos]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

Luiz:

Even if I agree with Jim, and having shared myself copyrighted recipes within this group, it is ok if you prefer to send me the recipe to my private mail.
You could reach me at arevalo@embraer.com.br to eventual correspondence.
By the way, nice work on your oven!
And I am curious now, from where 'carioca' comes from?

Luis

[carioca]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

Ciao Jim! I take your point...

Ola Luis,

here's a quick summary of the recipe from Daniel Leader's excellent book, Local Breads:

he uses a rimmed baking sheet that he puts in a normal oven heated to 375F for 20-30 minutes.

The topping consists of 1 1/2 cups red seedless grapes, 2 tblsp coarsely chopped fresh rosemary and 1 tsp coarse sea salt.

The dough is made by putting 1 1/4 cups of tepid water into a bowl, adding 1 tsp instant yeast, 3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil and 1 1/2 tsps sea salt and blending it briefly into a dough.

Then turn dough out onto a floured countertop and knead it - with floured hands - for some 12 to 15 minutes, until it is smooth and very elastic.

Ferment until it has doubled in volume, about 60 to 90 minutes.

Turn out carefully onto a lightly oiled baking sheet, rest for 5 minutes, then oil your hands and stretch and press the dough towards the edges. It should end up about 1/2 inch thick. Coat with oilive oil, dimple dough using your fingers and press grapes into the dough, about 1 to 1 1/2 in apart. Then sprinkle rosemary and salt over the dough and cover with plastic wrap.

Let rise for 30 to 45 minutes, then bake until grapes have wrinkled and crust has turned golden. Cool briefly before cutting into finger-long rectangles (snacks) or bigger rectangles (meal). Enjoy fresh, or store for up to a day in plastic bag...

Luiz, pls note that I patted the dough into 6 little individual pizzas and used grapes and tomato slices (no cherry tomatoes at hand), then cooked them in the WFO for 15 minutes. They remained a bit under-don, so either they needed more heat (most likely) or another 5 mins!

Cheers,

LMH

NB: Carioca, as you might know, denotes an inhabitant of Rio de Janeiro - I lived there for 3-4 years in the mid-1950s so I tend to claim that title. Had I been born in Rio, from an old family, I might have called myself 'carioca da gema' :-)

PS: Today I'll try my hand at pizza alle patate di Genzano, from the same book. I made the biga yesterday when family came to visit and had not noticed the long fermenting period for the biga. So Bianca's plum 'pizza' was baked in the kitchen and was devoured by 2 grandchildren, daughter and son-in-law with whipped cream: delicious!

[arevalo53anos]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

Nice, Carioca!

Thanks.
I myself am living in Brazil by now (I arrived 25 years ago), in Sao Jose dos Campos, Sao Paulo, nearly 400 Km from Rio.
Sauda??es

Luis

[james]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

I took a Wood-Fired cooking class in Fiesole a number of years ago, and they did Schiacciata all'uva. Straining my memory, she had a couple of nice tips. She warmed the olive oil and rosemary together in a bowl set at the opening of the oven. Just enough to warm it through. She also did it in two layers -- dough, grapes, dough, grapes.

Traditionally, you are supported to use wine grapes -- which have seeds. The Italians in the group were crunching their way through the seeds, but I just couldn't do it. Blah.

In bakeries, they use seedless red grapes.

Judy Witts, who run a cooking school in Florence says you can use blueberries.

James

[carioca]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

I took a Wood-Fired cooking class in Fiesole a number of years ago, and they did Schiacciata all'uva. Straining my memory, she had a couple of nice tips. She warmed the olive oil and rosemary together in a bowl set at the opening of the oven. Just enough to warm it through. She also did it in two layers -- dough, grapes, dough, grapes.

Traditionally, you are supported to use wine grapes -- which have seeds. The Italians in the group were crunching their way through the seeds, but I just couldn't do it. Blah.

In bakeries, they use seedless red grapes.

Judy Witts, who run a cooking school in Florence says you can use blueberries.

James

Ciao James,

good tip about the two layers of dough - this would prevent at least ONE set of grapes ending up on the hearth :-) thru inept handling of the peel (peel me a grape?!).

Bianca crunches the seeds when eating grapes - I couldn't do that and just slurp them with the flesh, similar to passionfruit seeds which Bianca also crunches...

Cheers,

LMH

NB: baked a pane casareccio di Genzano using biga naturale and sliced potatoes and onions on top. I did it in the normal oven because it is still raining here... The dough itself ended up tasting and feeling very much like our own sourdough brtead, but Bianca hated the concoction as one of the worst I'd ever made! Yet it was she who instructed me not to bake at the recommended 500F temperature...

[james]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

Bianca crunches the seeds when eating grapes - I couldn't do that and just slurp them with the flesh, similar to passionfruit seeds which Bianca also crunches...

That's it!
James

[CanuckJim]

Re: Schiacciata all'uva

Carioca, all,

Over the weekend I finally got around to making it, with seedless, non crunchy grapes. The contrast between the sweetness of the grapes, the punch of the coarse Brittany sea salt, and the aromatic pungency of the rosemary really was something special. I definitely will try it with blueberries when they're in season and maybe layer the dough. The pics are posted in the Photo Gallery, because I wanted the file size a bit bigger. Also made two loaves of Pane in cassetta de Altamura, with 100 per cent golden durham flour, plus personal sized Pizza alle patae di Genzano and Pizza Margherita. Umm, they did not last long, as you can see, so all I could shoot were the temporary leftovers. All but the last formula are based on Leader's book.

Throughout, I used the Tuscan olive oil from the FB store. If you haven't tried it, do, it's really fabulous. Pizza dough was made with 100 per cent Caputo, using James' recipe: best dough yet. In the past, I struggled with my bread peels to make pizza , but it's much easier now with the perforated loading peel and the round turning peel I got from FB. Large difference.

Jim