Friday, January 20, 2012

Schiacciata all Sicilianna

 When I looked for authentic Sicilian recipes for the last International Dinner, I came across this recipe. The amazing thing is that when I Googled images to see it's construction I discovered that the making of Schiacciata all Sicilianna is not a straightforward affair. I found them folded like a stromboli, or a calzone, tucked in like a pasty, built like a pie, or laid out like a very long pizza. But then I started to find 7 pages in my search that chefs in the country side roll them like a cinnamon bread. It's swirling center was so lovely I decided to go with the roll.
I also discovered that the ingredients varied wildly. I finally decided to do a variation on my monster meatloaf. With a blend of ground chuck, ground lamb, and pork, though in this recipe I used well browned crisp bacon which was crumbled and the dripping were used to fry up the onions and garlic, I found the perfect filling for my roll.

The dough was 2 cups flour, 1 cup warm water, 1 1/2 tsp yeast, 3 tbls olive oil, 1 tbls sugar, and 2 tsp salt. I used a white whole wheat flour which was very easy to work with. In the first photo you see my husband rolling it all together while I worked on the Taralli. The roll's ends were tucked under and the whole thing was laid out onto a greased pan and baked at 380 degrees for about 30 minutes. The time will depend on the roll's thickness and filling as well as the type of flour used in the dough. I think 30 minutes is a good point to start checking on it. It should have a nice golden brown and crunchy exterior when finished. This was very savory and I enjoyed it with several glasses of wine!

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