Focaccia o schiacciata? – Schiacciata ripiena con cipolle, zucchine, funghi e fontina

Even though this week is a crazy week, I think I am even crazier to be cooking, when I should be either packing or painting or working on some menus and certainly not working on my blog. I am just a little obsessive when food is concerned and I just wanted to make this schiacciata for such a long time, that I decided to stop postponing and make it in a little rush!

Another Italian little stuffed bread, it can be called focaccia ripiena (ripiena = stuffed, filled), torta ripiena or schiacciata…the dough is somehow the same, then it’s stuffed with vegetables and melting cheese.

Schiacciare means to crush, so schiacciata means crushed. Basically the dough is crushed flat so you get a great filling in between the two sheets. You have different types of schiacciata, in Florence, they also have schiacciata con l’uva which is a sweet version of this one but made with black grapes. In the South, in the Catania region (Sicily), they have schiacciata catanese which is a savory schiacciata stuffed with sausages, cheese and cauliflower. I have seen schiacciata mainly stuffed with vegetables and never tried any other version.

This is perfect for a little aperitivo, you can cut it in small squares and serve it with some olives and cold cuts when you have guests over with a little cup of Champagne. The melting fontina on top of vegetables in the middle of a deliciously crunchy, salty and “herby” crust is delightful. The rosemary is my favorite herb on focaccia, its scent infuses in the crust and your house smells like a bakery from heaven. You can use caciocavallo cheese if you can find it, but the cheese needs to be a melting one.

You don’t need to work the dough as much as I did, I let it rest overnight. When I have time, I let it rest a long time, then knead it again, the whole process taking 12 hours, I get a wonderful dough, light and airy and crunchy on the outside. If you don’t have time, you can just let it rest for one hour, knead it again and let it rest for another hour, and it should be fine.

Ingredients

For the dough

• 500 g white flour
• Beer yeast dissolved in a glass of water (or more)
• 4 tbs olive oil (+ 1)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• rock salt for topping
• 1 rosemary sprig for topping, roughly chopped
• 1 thyme branch for topping, roughly chopped

For the stuffing

• 2 zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• Italian fontina cheese
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 + 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a mixing container, place flour. In a glass dissolve about 1 tsp beer yeast in a lukewarm glass of water. Mix with flour and add olive oil and salt. Gradually mix all ingredients together and knead the dough with your hand. You want a soft consistency almost sticky but very elastic dough, so if the dough tends to be hard, add water. Knead for about 10 minutes. Place in a container, cover with a cloth and let it rise for about one hour. It should double its volume. Knead the dough again and let rise for another 2 hours. Repeat the process twice.

While the dough is rising, start melting onions. Heat olive oil in a pan, then add sliced onions. Let them brown at medium temperature, then decrease heat, cover with a lid and let it cook slowly until they turn soft and caramelized. Remove from the pan. In the same pan, heat 1 tbs olive oil, then add mushrooms and zucchini, salt and pepper, and cook until the vegetables are soft and water has evaporated.

Cut the dough in two pieces. One should be a little bigger than the other one. Using a rolling pin or your hands, roll the dough in two sheets, one slightly larger than the other one. The dough should not be too thick, about 7 mm thick.

Using an oven tray, or a large rectangular dish, place larger dough in the greased dish, add one layer of onions, then add mushroom/zucchini mixture. Add slices of fontina on top and cover with the other dough sheet, using the extra dough from the bottom sheet to seal the sciacciata.

Place rock salt all over the top, spread olive oil all over the surface and add rosemary and thyme. Using a fork, make a few holes on top to prevent the dough from inflating. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F – 380F. When the top is lightly golden brown, remove from the oven. Serve hot.

Appetizers, Breads, tarts and pizza focaccia ripiena, fontina, onions, pizza, schiacciata, tomatoes, zucchini

Ne pas confondre avec une pizza – Tarte tatin facon pizza aux tomates confites, ricotta, chèvre, lardons, basilic et moutarde

I really don’t like to throw food away…I had some leftover dough that I used to make the Tarpiz a few days ago and I thought it would be a shame to throw away that delicious and healthy dough, so I decided to make a tatin with it. Tatin in French refers to an upside down tart. The fruits or vegetables and first placed in the dish, then comes the dough that is placed on top. Usually people use either puff pastry or pâte brisée . In this case, I used the whole wheat and kamut dough, which is more similar to pizza dough and has a lot less fat in it. The thing is since it has some yeast in it, you need to make it thin or it will rise and get too thick.

Try to get really ripe, organic and meaty tomatoes. If you get regular tomatoes, they tend to be filled with water, and even after it’s cooked the tatin will be filled with water and soak its crust.

Ricotta salata, in Italian “salata” means “salty” (can be sometimes called “ricottone”) and it is basically regular ricotta to which salt has been added and has been left to dry for about one month.  The drying process made ricotta lose half of its water. This ricotta can also be grated like regular cheese.

I just put one slice of bacon, but you can put more if you like it, I didn’t want the smoked flavor to be too powering.

Ingredients for 4

• 6 medium tomatoes, skinless and seedless
• 2 tbs of ricotta salata
• 2 tbs goat cheese
• 2 tbs basil
• 1 slice of bacon, diced
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tbs Dijon mustard
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First prepare the tomatoes. Remove the skin by putting them in boiling water for a few seconds. Cut in half and remove the seeds. Add salt and pepper and place in the oven at 400F for about 15 minutes to dry them out.

Oil a deep dish. Place tomatoes in the dish, the side that has been cut should be face down. Make sure to tighten them closely, not to leave any space between them. Add cheeses cut in slices on top of tomatoes. Add bacon (previously diced and cooked in a pan), add basil, garlic, salt and pepper.

Spread the dough using a rolling pin. Make it into a thin layer. Make sure to make a larger circle than the dish containing the tomatoes. Spread mustard on top of the dough and place the dough with mustard side down, facing the tomatoes. You need to push the extra dough down, all around the edge of the dish.

Place tatin in a preheated oven at 375F for about 30 minutes or until the crust is golden.

Before removing from the dish, wait about 30 seconds. Then unmold upside down and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.

Appetizers, tarts and pizza basil, goat cheese, pizza, Recipes, ricotta, tart, tatin, tomatoes

Mi tarte, mi pizza – Tarpiz aux légumes du sud grillés, feta et roquette

Tra una torta e una pizza – Tarpiz con verdura mista del sud, feta e rucola

When you can decide what to make between a pizza and a tart, and you end up doing something in between those two, it would be inaccurate to call it either tart or pizza, that’s why it should get its own name. Entre les deux mon coeur balance (in between those two my heart can’t decide), like my heart has been balancing between France and Italy my whole life, so I might as well be a representation of this round and savory Tarpiz…really Tarpiz is really what it is…and I feel I am a Tarpiz myself.

Lately, I have been avoiding to use white refined flours in my pastries or other dishes where it requires flour. I have been going to the Rainbow and buying all those wonderful cereal flours, such as quinoa, kamut, buckwheat, spelt, etc…they’re wonderful for baking, very healthy since high in fibers and protein and most of all they taste absolutely amazing. I definitely stay away from white refined flour when possible. 

Our modern society has been consuming too many refined and industrialized food, lacking nutrients and vitamins. We have forgotten natural and ancient grains used in the old time as far as Antiquity, such as spelt, kamut, millet, etc…and really wished that restaurants would also serve food that would be focused on nutrition rather than heavy in grease and sugar to make it more “flavorful”. Flavor is not linked to sugar and grease, but on quality of the ingredients.

Anyway, this Tarpiz is made out of whole wheat and kamut flours, topped with grilled vegetables, and rucola. I love pizza bianca (white pizza) with rucola they serve in Italy. 

For about 4 people

For the dough

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup kamut flour
• fresh yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm water or less
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt

For the topping

• 1 red bell pepper, grilled
• 1 small size eggplant, sliced crosswise
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 tbs feta, crumbled
• a few cherry tomatoes (5 or 6 cut in half)
• 1 tbs kalamata olives, chopped (optional)
• 1 handful of wild rucola
• salt and pepper

For the dough

Mix flours together. Dissolve one tsp of fresh yeast in 1/2 glass of lukewarm water. Stir well until the yeast has completely dissolved. Mix yeast, salt, olive oil with flours, making a dough. Knead the dough to make it into a nice and elastic texture. Let it rise for a couple of hours at medium temperature. It needs to double it size. Then fold again, make a ball, wrap in plastic and leave in the refrigerator for one about one hour.

For the topping

Broil the bell pepper under the broiler, until all sides are browned. Remove, let it cool and remove the skin and seeds. Cut in stripes.

Cut the eggplant crosswise, sprinkle with salt and olive oil and broil under the broiler on both sides. When nicely browned, cut in half or quarter depending on the size of the eggplant.

Cook the onions slowly in olive oil until they become soft almost like a jam. 

Start spreading the dough, then top with onions, eggplants, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper stripes, olives, feta cheese, salt and pepper. Cook in a preheated oven at 375F for about 25 minutes. Remove and add rucola. Serve hot.

Appetizers, Vegetarian - dairy, tarts and pizza Appetizer, eggplant, feta, pizza, Recipes, rucola, tart