The Fresh Loaf

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XVIII - Sourdough Schiacciata con L’Uva ….sort of.

lumos's picture
lumos

XVIII - Sourdough Schiacciata con L’Uva ….sort of.

The autumn has come (though the summer seems to have decided to come back for a few days at the moment in UK), and some of the posts on TFL are reflecting the change of season. Floyd’s post on the beautiful grape focaccia was one of them.

Tuscan speciality, Schiacciata con L’Ulva (or grape focaccia, for people outside Tuscany) is one of many breads I’d been meaning to bake but hadn’t yet.  But the colour of the juice oozing from the grapes on Floyd’s picture looked so enticing, I decided I really need to give it a try, at long last.

The authentic one is made with black grapes, but I only had red grapes at hand when I felt the sudden impulse to bake it.  I could've waited until next day when I was due to go grocer-shopping, but thought I didn't do it then and there, I might leave it forever again, so it's Red Grape schiacciata I made. Also instead of sweet version of Tuscan original, which sometimes uses raisins in the filling, too, I only put much smaller amount of sugar in the dough (my trusted, regular sourdough focaccia dough + added sugar. See below) to make it savour to accompany the sautéed pork with blue cheese for dinner.  And lots of rosemary, of course, and a bit of black pepper and coarse sea salt as  a subtle contrast to the sweetness of grapes. 

 

Sourdough Schiacciata con L'Ulva - Savory and unauthentic, but who cares, it tastes good! :p

INGREDIENTS

   For Dough

      Starter (70% hydration)   70g

      Strong flour   100g

     Plain flour    100g

     Skimmed milk powder    1 tbls

     Sugar  1 tsp

     Salt  4g

    Extra Virgin Olive Oil  2 tbls

    Water   155 - 160g (78-80%)

 

  For Filling/Topping

    Grapes   200-250g

    Rosemary

    Freshly, coarsely ground black pepper

    Coarse sea salt

    Olive oil

 

 METHOD

  1. Mix all the ingredients for the dough and autolyse for 30 minutes.
  2. S & F 3 times in the bowl every 40 minutes or so until medium gluten development.
  3. Put in the fridge and cold retard for overnight – 18 hrs.
  4. Take it out of the fridge and leave for 30 minutes at room temperature.
  5. Spread the dough on a lightly-oiled worktop and scatter a half of grapes and rosemary on a half of the dough.

 

   6.  Fold the other half of the dough (the part without grapes/rosemary) over to cover the grapes/rosemary.

                Note : If you feel the dough lacks gluten development at this stage, you can gently letter-fold once to remedy that. (Try not to deflate the dough, though)

   7.  Scatter the remaining grapes and rosemary, lightly pressing down the grapes into the dough.

 

  8. Cover and proof for 40 minutes – 1 hr until it almost double in size.

  9.  Pre-heat the oven and baking stone at 250C.

 10.   When ready to bake, lightly press down grapes again,  if necessary. Drizzle some olive oil all over with sprinkle of black pepper and a tiny amount of coarse sea salt on top. 
 11.  Place on the baking stone, shut the oven door and lower the temperature to 200C.
 12.  Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until puffed up and golden.
 13.  Cool on the rack before serving.

 

......and I'm supposed to paste a photo here to show you how it turned out.  But in the midst of hectic dinner preparation, I forgot to take the pictures.....::sigh::

 

 So this is the picture of a remaining piece next day.....

 

.....no, showing two pics of a same piece taken from different angles doesn't really make them look whole....what a silly trick.....:p

 

Crumb shot

 

Made into sandwich for lunch, which worked perfectly with stilton and salad.

 I think it'd be good with cold chicken, too.  Really, this is worth making just for making it into sandwiches next day, too.

 

lumos

 

Comments

ananda's picture
ananda

It must work as a "sunshine" snack too, lumos ?

Looks fantastic...especially with the Blue Stilton!

Very best wishes

Andy

lumos's picture
lumos

Thank you, Andy.

You can't really go wrong with any blue cheese and grape. ;)  I would've used Gorgonzola if I had it, but got left over Stilton from the previous day's dinner.  

If you have Waitrose near you, try their Cropwell Bishop Stilton from the cheese counter. (they have prepacked one on chilled shelf, but the loose one on the cheese counter is much better)   It's the second best Stilton after Colston Basset IMHO.

lumos

Ruralidle's picture
Ruralidle

Sorry lumos, I disagree with you.  I prefer Cropwell Bishop stilton to Colston Bassett but there is one from a dairy called (I think) Quenby that is - allegedly - very good, but I haven't found any in a shop yet.

lumos's picture
lumos

LOL got to love the people who can engage in geeky Stilton debate!! :D

Well, I think Colston Basset has more complex flavour than Cropwell Bishop (which is actually not too far from my bro-in-law's) inspite of being slightly more delicate. It's such a beautiful balance, I love it.....though Cropwell is certainly an excellent alternative and  fix between my visits to Borough Market to get Colston. ;)

You must be talking about this (←LINK!! just in case you miss it again. :p) stilton?  That's actually my friend's favourite (the one who's responsible to faux-Poilane creation).  You can buy both Colston Bassett and Quenby at Neal's Yard Dairy, which means you can actually compare the flavours (for free!), which is great.  Quenby is more 'buttery' than either Colston or Cropwell, that's why she prefers that. (she loves butter TOO much)  I prefer my stilton to be creamy but not too buttery, so I'd choose 2 Cs over Q but it's a matter of personal taste, I guess. ;) 

However, I'd always choose this Scottish blue over any of those. 

I mentioned about this in my blog on faux-Poilane, but those Stiltons are so good it's to die for, but this Scottish blue is to kill for! It's that good.

It's also available from Neal's Yard.....and I assure you I'm not paid commission from them, just in case you're wondering. :p

 

 

Ruralidle's picture
Ruralidle

I am geeky about lots of things  :)  Look at this link

http://www.quenbyhall.co.uk/stilton/buy-our-cheese

lumos's picture
lumos

my god.....  Just checked Neal's cheese list and Q's gone!  It was almost year ago my friend's been to Borough, and, though I've been going there every few months, I always beeline for Colston or Strathdon, I haven't noticed they don't sell it anymore. Come to think of it, that might be why they started selling Strathdon.  It was late last year a guy on the cheese counter recommended it for me, which was new to their range then.

You've read this too?

It's so sad, isn't it, the award-winning cheesemaker disappearing like that  Cropwell Bishop's got the deal with Waitrose, so probably they'll be alright, but hope Colston will survive through this recession.

Salilah's picture
Salilah

Good looking bread - and yes nice to have it more savoury than sweet!

I did a Schiacciata for Christmas the last couple of years - from a recipe in The River Cafe Classic Italian Cookbook - which I really like, though the rest of the family I think feel it should be sweeter (I like it for breakfast as an alternative or supplement to Pannetone).

the recipe is a standardish dough with 25g (!) fresh yeast, 200ml water, 4 tablespoons sugar, 8 tablespoons EVOO, salt (pinch only!), 500g plain flour.  Knead 15mins, rise "at least one hour".  For this much dough, it uses 1kg of black grapes (!!) - as you didn, in two layers, with an additional 4 tablespoons sugar sprinkled with the grapes & some more olive oil, and fennel seeds (4 tablespoons) instead of rosemary.  they show it as a round bread - 2 layers with crimped edges.

Reminder to self - must do this again, this time with sourdough! <grin>  Thanks for the recipe - I definitely want to try the less sweet version

Salilah

 

lumos's picture
lumos

Hi, Sali!

Schiacciata for Christmas is a good idea. I always bake some breads to take to my brother-in-law's where we all get together for spend Christmas days every year, so I might include that in the selection of loaves. I have three River Cafe (blue, yellow, green) books but never have tried their focaccia recipes.  Don't know why......   I'll have a look later to see if one of them have schiacciata.

Most of schiacciata formulae I have suggest to use as much grapes as double the weight of the flour, too.  Some even suggest using grapes on top of it!  But they're probably served for tea or something rather than as a part of the meal as  I did.  And yes, they're usually round in Tuscany.  But rectangular is easier to make. Sometimes life is too short to make your focaccia round. :p

What grape did you use for your schiacciata, btw? 

lumos

 

p.s. If you're interested in more fluffy sort of focaccia with finer crumb (like the one they serve at Carluccio's),  I have a sourdough recipe for that, too, if you're interested.  ;)

Salilah's picture
Salilah

Heya!

Let me know if they don't have the recipe in those books - happy to email to you direct.  Yes it is probably more of a "munch with coffee" bread in their version, rather than use to make sandwiches.  I found round worked pretty well, as I had a round oven tray (previously used for pizzas) so it seemed to work out alright.  I used black grapes I think - unfortunately I couldn't find seedless so my poor sister- and brother-in-law had to de-seed the grapes (well, they were asking for something to do!)...  The River Cafe book says "made during the grape harvest with whichever wine grapes are being harvested - in Tuscany this would be the small Sangiovese grapes.... made with sweet table grapes because the wine grapes were not ripe" so it sounds like you can do pretty much any sort!

And - yes please for the sourdough recipe for the Carluccio style one!  I need to find a softer and fluffier (and preferably softer crust) bread for mother-in-law, she doesn't really like my "artisan" style chewy holey things!!! <grin>

lumos's picture
lumos

Sorry for the late reply. Been suffering from splitting headache since Saturday, after helping our daughter's moving to a Cambridge college.  28C is not the best day for moving. Especially if the room is on the top floor of a building with no lift!

My formula for Carluccio style focaccia was based on this formula on Wild Yeast (Thank you, Susan! :) ) but changed a bit to incorporate sourdough.  I just scribbled some memo (in Japanese!)  for the conversion on the print-out of the WY's page, so I'll write down a proper formula later to give you....after the headache is gone. Please give me a few days. 

But meanwhile, if you'r not too bothered about yeast/sourdough choice, Susan's formula works very well, too, of course.;)

I think we have a same kind of mother-in-law..... :p

 

 

 

Salilah's picture
Salilah

Poor you - hope you are feeling better?
Yes definitely not a day for moving! Hope your daughter is settled in...
S

lumos's picture
lumos

Thanks, the headache is almost gone.  Will send you the promised recipe ASAP. ;) 

My daughter seems to be enjoying a lot.  With 10 students from her school going there this year (two of them very close friends) and a few seniors in the same college, she seems to be feeling at home already. Had a look at the timetable for freshers' week.  Looks like all the fun and play, one after another, every day, like parties, film night, quiz night, another party, tea party at the college next door, sports day, the college "family" get-together,  etc. etc.  Hope they'll find a bit of spare time to study once in a while, too.....:p

varda's picture
varda

Lumos, Thanks so much for documenting this so clearly.   This looks like a terrific treat on its own and your sandwich is making my mouth water.  -Varda

lumos's picture
lumos

You're most welcome, Varda. :)

Yeah, the sandwich was really good.  I think I'll make this again when we have a roast chicken dinner next time, so that I can have a schiacciata sandwich with cold chicken next day. ;)

lumos

Syd's picture
Syd

Gorgeous looking bread, Lumos. Love the presentation and the accompaniments. Truly a feast for the eyes and the stomach. Beautiful open crumb. I have only made a sourdough focaccia once and I was blown away by the flavour. Hopefully, I will be able to bake this weekend. :)
Best,
Syd

lumos's picture
lumos

Thanks, Syd!

I love sourdough focaccia, too. The crumb should be more open if there hadn't been such heavy filling as large grapes, but I really enjoyed the combination of the filling/topping.

When you bake it this weekend, you'll  share the result with us, won't you?  I really look forward to it because your bread is always gorgeous! :)

lumos

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Yum.  That looks wonderful.  Black pepper sounds like a very smart addition.

lumos's picture
lumos

Thank you, Floyd!  If it weren't for your post, I would've never baked it for another hundred years. ;)

 

Ruralidle's picture
Ruralidle

That looks really lovely, lumos.  I have a business meeting that I am catering for on Thursday and that looks like a contender for one of the two breads I want to bake.

lumos's picture
lumos

If you do, take your Stilton with it! :p

Salilah's picture
Salilah

Had a go at this - no rosemary (got killed off last year in the winter) so used a few fennel seeds instead
I think I overdid the EVOO in the dough - it was seriously sticky!!!

Can I add a photo to a comment??? if so, how?

lumos's picture
lumos

Fennel sounds like a good idea!  I might try that myself, though probably not with grapes, but with grilled vegetable or salami as a topping, maybe.

It is quite soft dough because of hydration.  With the addition of olive oil, this is the highest hydration I could have without making it too sticky to handle. If you find the dough unmanageable because it's too wet, one thing you can do is knead it vigorously for a few minutes for addtional gluten development. (Bertinet's slap & fold is the quickest remedy, I think)

 

To add a pic in the post, you click 'Insert/edit image' button (the one looks like a tree with a square box behind) above and paste URL for your image. (first you need to upload your pic to a photosharing site, like Photobucket, etc.)

Or if you mean hyperlinking a pic to a word/words in the text, first you highlight the word/words you want to hyperlink to by left-click+hold+drag, then you click the hyperlink button (the one looks like a chain) and paste image URL.

 

Salilah's picture
Salilah

Thanks for suggestion of kneading - I did this hand-done with just a few S&F with a spoon (!) and overnight refridgeration - I should have tried kneading when it came out, will do next time (though I might do lower hydration). I also overproofed anyway, it was quite flat...

Re the pic, I was wondering about how to attach in e.g. this reply - I don't see the little tree but i do have that in new blogs or in posts in the forum...

Oh well, never mind, to be honest it wasn't a good photo and actually my version wasn't a very good bread!! I'll try again and see if I can do better

Salilah's picture
Salilah

Here's a dubious photo of the one I did - I cut the grapes in half so there are more obvious grapes there...

I reckon fennel seeds work pretty well in this?  Well, I ate it all so I should!

I should try another version of the recipe I think - the River Cafe one was quite nice but a lot less hydration (from my memory of the dough); this one (as mentioned) was so sticky I couldn't easily do a circle below and circle above; more practice needed.  Now we have a load of grapes on the vine this year - perhaps they will work? (green/gold so would not look quite as cute!!)

Salilah

lumos's picture
lumos

Looks lovely! Yeah, I can see fennel would work. I must try that next time.

You know, when I made mine I really wondered if I should cut grapes in half or not, because they looked so big compared to what's the thickness of the focaccia would be.  But in the end I put them whole because I was worried too much juice might ooze from the cut surface to make the dough soggy. Looking at your picture, maybe my worry was unnecessary....

I'm sure this would work with almost any kind of grapes. If you have home-grown one, probably even better!  Maybe crushed pink peppercorns instead of black pepper for lovely contrast of colour to your green/gold grapes?   Pink peppercorns are worth keeping in your cupboard for its slightly sweet/sour flavour, it's a good opportunity to buy one to stock, if you haven't got yet.

lumos

lumos's picture
lumos

I usually only do S & F in a bowl, too, but make sure I stretch the dough as long as it can without tearing. Also I add a few extra sessions of S & F if the dough feels too weak. Another thing which helps a lot with this sort of bread  with high hydration is to get the baking stone really hot before loading the dough onto it, at the maximum oven temperature, and lower the temperature down after loading.

Not sure what you mean by 'attach in this reply.'  You mean pasting a picture something like this? = click the tree-like icon above and past image URL.

 

....or hyperlinking it like this? (←link)  = click the chain-like icon above and paste image URL.

 

If you can't see any icon above the text/comment box, maybe because you've 'disabled' rich-text.  Click 'Enable rich-text' below the comment box and you should be able to see those.

 

 

Salilah's picture
Salilah

Aha! This time it appears to offer me the "tree"...

now i need to find the photo! <grin>

Thanks for the encouragement!

Ruralidle's picture
Ruralidle

Hi lumos

They do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so ........

It's not exactly like your recipe - I had no milk powder or rosemary (the winter only left us one small plant that we are developing) but otherwise very similar to yours.  You can see it was popular - the photo was taken at about 20:00 today and it only can out of thew oven at 13:00!

Very nice recipe, thank you.

Richard

lumos's picture
lumos

Thanks for reporting back, Richard.  Lovely open crumb. :)

Milk powder is not that vital, really. It gives a bit of richness, but it's such a small amount,  it'd  do without it easily, if you don't have it. ;)

Do you still have some left?  If you cut it into slices and grill it lightly, it's lovely with butter or melted cheese, too, next day......especially good blue cheese, like our favourite C......... B........  (Fill in as you wish) :p

Ruralidle's picture
Ruralidle

Hello lumos

Thanks for your comments. After this morning's 2 packed lunches I barely have enough left to balance on the grill pan.  There is about 1 inch of end crust left for me :( so I think your recipe is popular here.  Thank you so much, it is another recipe to add to my list of standard popular breads for my family.

Best Wishes Richard

Salilah's picture
Salilah

Good rise - very goodlooking bread!  Congratulations

lumos's picture
lumos

Slice the 1 inch piece into two thin slices (so that crumb parts can be grilled, not the crust)and grill them.  Eat them while they're still warm....before your family can get their hands on! :p