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Submitted by dorothydean on February 9, 2011 - 9:37pm

Recipe for or thoughts on Italian chestnut flour and potato bread (Casola Marocca)?

I'm searching for a recipe for a bread described on the "Ark of Taste" section of the Slow Food web site--an amazing-sounding bread made with chestnut flour, wheat flour, and a little bit of potato, with milk and olive oil. The bread is called Casola Marocca. I've also seen it online as Marocca di Casole.

http://www.slowfoodfoundation.org/eng/arca/dettaglio.lasso?cod=496&prs=PR_037

I can't find a recipe, even in Italian. I'm wondering if anyone has one or has any advice on where to look, and/or, if this general description from the Slow Food site suggests any particular proportions that might work. 

thanks for reading--any help hugely appreciated! 

here's the descrip from the site: 

The bread is made by mixing finely sieved chestnut flour with wheat flour and a couple of boiled mashed potatoes, which give it its spongy texture. Extra virgin olive oil, yeast dissolved in milk, a piece of culture yeast and water are then added. The dough is broken into round, 20 cm loaves which are left to rise for over 1 hour. After baking them for at least 1 hour in the wood oven - at a lower temperature than the one used for common bread - the dark brown bread, with an intense chestnut smell and a pleasant sweet note, is ready for consumption.

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Submitted by Daisy_A on February 11, 2011 - 7:16pm.

sourdough marocca di casola

Hi dorothy, hi Geraint

 

This sounds like an interesting project!

Formula Mr Frost posted looks good. 

There don't seem to be too many recipes out there but I found one with sourdough only on this link to an Italian 'Wild Yeast' blog

http://fermentiselvatici.blogspot.com/2010/10/giornata-mondiale-del-pane-fatto-in.html

Google Translate is on this link, but it is not that clear a translation:

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=it&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Ffermentiselvatici.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F10%2Fgiornata-mondiale-del-pane-fatto-in.html

This is a brief extrapolation of formula and method as far as I can understand it in the original

- 450 g sourdough starter/biga  (refreshed twice depending on the season and the strength of the original starter) 
- 600 gr chestnut flour 
- 300 grams of wheat flour 
- 1 / 2 cups milk 
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 
- A boiled potato peeled and mashed with a fork 
- 2 teaspoons of salt. 

 

Warm milk, transfer to a bowl and mix with starter, oil and mashed potato

Mix in the chestnut flour until the spoon stands in the dough

Transfer dough to the bench and mix in the wheat flour

Knead for quite a long time but not to the extent that the dough breaks down

Proof for an hour

Degass, fold, turn over into a ball shape and make a deep cross in the top

No baking instructions given but those in method above seem sound. Blogger stresses that it it important to have a strong sourdough. She finds the bread made with a weak starter has a flatter profile.

 

Sounds like they really enjoyed it with butter and chestnut honey, though :-)

Do let us know how this turns out if you make it both of you! 

There is a picture on this link

http://www.interredi.com/news/43-saperi-e-sapori/88-la-marocca-di-casola-il-pane-della-lunigiana

Geraint - how is the community bakery going - well I trust?

With best wishes, Daisy_A