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Bread and Grapes Under A Tuscan Sun: Schiacciata Con L'Uva

There are a lot of great combinations in life, and books and food is definitely one of them for me. Think of being curled up in your favourite chair with a good book, something to munch on and a cup of tea, then that’s one idea of what my heaven could look like. Throw in some rain (with the rain out
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Servings 6 serving

Ingredients
  

For the base:

  • 2 1/2 to 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/4 tsps yeast dry active
  • pinch salt
  • 2 tbsps sugar granulated
  • 1/2 tsp anise seeds
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups water warm
  • 1/2 cup milk

For the topping:

  • 1/2 kg grapes black , juicy (I used less; mine were seedless) big
  • xbc cup sugar powdered
  • a few rosemary twigs of fresh (optional) plus some more
  • 3 to 6 tbsps extra virgin olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Mix the milk and water and warm it slightly. Dissolve the yeast completely in this milk-water mixture.
  • Place the flour, salt and sugar on a clean surface and mix. Form into a small heap with a well in the center. Slowly pour the dissolved yeast into the centre, mixing with the flour until all of the yeast water is incorporated.
  • Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, like for bread, until it is smooth and elastic. Cover the dough and place in a warm place until it has doubled in size.
  • In a small saucepan warm the olive oil with some of the rosemary. As soon as the rosemary starts to sizzle, remove saucepan from the heat. Remove the rosemary (throw it away) and let the oil cool.
  • Grease a rectangular baking pan. Roll out the dough to about 1 cm thick (this thickness is important or your bread layers will be very thick), and wide enough to have the dough overlapping the edges of the pan by about 2-3 cm all around. Place the dough on the pan and cover it evenly with the grapes, leaving very little space.
  • I used a pie plate because I didnu2019t have the right sized rectangular pan.
  • Dust the grapes with the sugar and remaining rosemary, then drizzle the olive oil over all of this. Fold the edges of the dough over on top of the grapes around the border, pinching the corners to make the schiacciata rectangular in form.
  • Bake the schiacciata at 180C for 30 minutes. You might want to place another pan underneath, because the grapes' juice could drip out over the edges of the pan. Let cool and serve with a bit of honey on top.

Notes

Verdict:
We found the schiacciata alright, nothing extraordinary. I think I expected to be something very special or unusual, which could have been unrealistic. The grapes I used were sweet and the texture of the bread was just great but together they just didn’t seem right.
Now, it might be that I didn’t use the right variety of grapes, or maybe this bread is right only with wine, which we don’t drink. I would however recommend you try this bread at least once because you just might like it.
The bread was excellent and I shall use this recipe (minus the sugar) to make other flatbreads, maybe even focaccia or a pizza.
This schiacciata is also getting YeastSpotted!
Please check here to see what my friends were inspired to cook this onth.