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tuscan flatbread

We’re bread-eaters around here! 🙂 This is a recipe for Schiacciata Toscana or Tuscan Flatbread. The recipe comes from a book called “A Thousand Days in Tuscany” by Marlena de Blasi. Here’s a link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Days-Tuscany-Bittersweet-Adventure/dp/0345481097. It’s a great read and sprinkled throughout are a few recipes she picked up in her time in Italy. This bread is delicious! It bakes up to a golden brown, topped with fresh rosemary and course sea salt for extra crunch. It’s also easy to put together. You can start it mid-afternoon and it’ll be ready by dinner! (Only needs 2 hours total proof time)

1 T active dry yeast
scant teaspoon dark brown sugar
2 3/4 c tepid water
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
3 t fine sea salt
6 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c finely ground cornmeal
2 T fresh rosemary, minced
coarse sea salt
additional EVOO for pans & drizzling

_In a large bowl, mix yeast and sugar into tepid water, stirring until the grains of sugar dissolve. Cover with plastic wrap, allowing yeast to activate, for 10 minutes.
_Stir the EVOO and salt together and pour into yeast mixture.
_Begin adding flour, a cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add the cornmeal all at once and mix to form a soft, dry dough. Add additional flour, a tablespoon at a time, if needed, until dough feels sticky.
_Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. Place dough in clean, lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise for 1 hour or until doubled in mass.
_Punch dough down, divide in half and stretch each piece on lightly oiled pan sprinkled with cornmeal. Use fingertips to push dough to edges of pan, let rest. After a few minutes, press dough to edges again. Cover with towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
_Preheat oven to 450 degrees. After 1/2 hour rise, press fists, knuckled down, all over bread. Drizzle top of dough with olive oil. Sprinkle with rosemary and coarse sea salt.
_Bake 20-25 minutes or until deeply golden brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool. With pastry brush, paint with EVOO. Serve warm or at room temperature.