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We're All About Italy

Cucina

Making Focaccia - the Ordinary to the Sublime

10/28/2020

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Focaccia is one of the world's oldest flatbreads with roots in ancient Greece and with the Etruscans, even before the Roman Empire reared its head. The Romans called it panis focacius (bread of the hearth) in Latin. In its basic form, it is a leavened bread, very similar to pizza but without all that cheese.  There have been versions of focaccia all through the Mediterranean coastline in Europe and northern Africa. In ancient Roman days, it looked like a very simple, flat round of pull-apart bread. It was a meal to be carried by shepherds and fishermen and meant to be eaten later.  In regions of neighboring France it's called fougasse. In Argentina and Brazil--both with large Italian immigrant populations--its name is fugazza and they can be either topped with stringy cheese or even double-crusted and stuffed.

The common modern form of focaccia is dimpled with fingertips to make little wells that can hold savory items like olives, cherry tomatoes, peppers, red onion, sliced potatoes, garlic or even sweet things like figs, pear slices, blueberries, walnuts, dates, honey, anise seeds, bulbing fennel (finnocchio), orange zest or grapes. The top is usually brushed or drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary, sea salt, pepper or other spices. Of course, you can sprinkle a bit of cheese (usually grated), but go to far and you've crossed the line between focaccia and pizza. The variations are endless.

In Italy, most pasticceria (pastry shops), panetteria (bread bakery) and even bars will have slices of focaccia often sliced and priced by weight. (Note: A "bar" in Italy is a family friendly place to get cappuccino and pastry in the morning and panini for lunch.)
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Typical Italian offerings of focaccia
Focaccia is usually baked in 1" deep, dark steel pans. The texture is usually bready and for that reason a high protein "strong" flour (bread flour here in the U.S.) is used. The thickness also has the benefit of being used to make panini, slicing through the middle and stuffing with provolone, mozzarella, prosciutto or thing slices of salami.
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Slices of focaccia ready for snacks, lunch or along with dinner
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PictureDark, half sheet pan available on Amazon
Ingredients
Yeast mixture:
1-3/4 cups warm water (110-115F)
1-1/5 tablespoons fast acting yeast
1 tablespoon honey

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For the dough:
1 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour
2-3 cups King Arthur bread flour (plus extra bench flour)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Extra virgin olive oil for the pan

Toppings:
Extra virgin olive oil (for brushing)
Cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup grated cheese (using 1/4 holes/box grater), provolone, asiago, or caciocavallo
(cheese is optional)
Dried thyme, rosemary, oregano, fresh ground pepper, sea salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 435F with a pizza stone or steel on the center shelf.
  1. Liberally oil a dark half sheet pan with the olive oil and set aside.
  2. Place the water in a small bowl and whisk in the yeast and honey until dissolved. Let sit until foamy, about 15 minutes.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attached, place 1 cup of all-purpose flour, sugar and salt, then mix until blended for a few seconds.
  4. Once the yeast is foamy, pour it into the mixing bowl and turn the speed to a low setting.
  5. Use a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides as you are adding flour.
  6. Little by little, add 1/3 cup of bread flour, each time waiting until it blends into the dough mass. Keep adding flour, a bit at a time until it begins to come together in a wet, loose mass.
  7. Turn up the mixer speed to medium high and let the dough mass slap against the sides of the bowl until you see strands of gluten sticking to the sides. You might need to occasionally dust a little bit (tablespoon) of flour into the mass, as you work, but don't add too much. You do NOT want a dry dough ball.
  8. Once you see strands have developed and your mass is no longer wet but still sticky, slow the mixer's speed down, then dust with a small amount of flour just to help turning it out onto the work surface. Use the spatula to help release it from the dough hook and bowl.
  9. Prepare a medium sized bowl by liberally coating it with olive oil. Flour the work surface.
  10. Turn out the dough mass onto your floured surface. Flour your hands.
  11. Dust the top of the dough with a little bit of flour, then start kneading, folding the close end over the rear edge, while pushing it with your palm in a downwards, rolling motion. Turn the dough--1/4 turn, then repeat for 2-3 minutes.
  12. With your cupped hands, form the dough into a round ball.
  13. Place the ball into the oiled bowl and turn over to coat both sides. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place to rise for 45 minutes.
  14. Once the dough has risen, without punching it down, roll it out onto the center of your baking pan. The dough should feel very fluffy with a coating of oil.
  15. Using the fingertips of both hands, starting in the center, gently press and slide the dough out to fill to the edges of the pan. The dough might be stretchy and slide on your oiled pan, so you will need to let it rest for 5 minutes before you can nudge it to fill the corners of your pan.
  16. After five minutes, adjust your dough so it fills the pan to both the edges and corners. Set aside in a warm place to rise in the pan for about 30 minutes before topping.
  17. Prepare any toppings: cutting cherry tomatoes in half, grating cheese, mixing spices together, etc.
  18. Next, press cherry tomato halves into the dough about 1-1/2" to 2" apart. Placing the tomatoes before the dough rises in the dough will help embed them as the dough rises.
  19. Once the dough has puffed up to about 1" thick, first drizzle and then brush very lightly the whole surface with extra virgin olive oil. Be delicate. If you brush too firmly, you might deflate the risen dough. If any large bubbles show up, you can pop them gently with a pointy skewer. 
  20. Sprinkle your spices and salt evenly across the top of the focaccia. Pay attention to the tomatoes--they will taste better with a sprinkle or salt and dried oregano.
  21. Bake in the 435F oven for about 15 minutes, or until both bottom and top are lightly browned (check underneath with a metal spatula). The sides should separate from the pan.
  22. Slice into 3"x5" strips or 5" rectangular pieces and serve hot, or let cool and serve at room temperature.
  23. Keep in a Tupperware in the fridge or wrap in foil (stored at room temp) for eating within 3 days.

You can reheat in a microwave by wrapping with a damp paper towel, then heating for 30 seconds (time depends on the power of your unit). To kick it up a notch, try a fresh drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (we really recommend unfiltered) or an aged balsamic. For a quick lunch, top with a draping of prosciutto. You can also slice focaccia in half and use to make a panino (sandwich) filled with thin sliced colt cuts and cheese or even cooked ingredients like grilled eggplant, tomatoes and mozzarella or roasted vegetables.
Getting Creative
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Now that you know the basics of making focaccia, consider getting creative, as these examples illustrate. Look for color contrasts, textures and interesting shapes with your choice of toppings. Consider unusual things like asparagus, cauliflower, beets, basil, cilantro, kale, mushrooms, berries, capers, chives, colored course sea salt, and various seeds. Depending on your ingredients, you might have to partially bake your focaccia first with ingredients that can cook during the entire bake time and need to be pressed into the dough. For other things that might burn, like seeds or tender leaves like basil, position on top during later stages of baking.

Be creative and make a masterpiece for a special occasion, or simply make simple focaccia for every day snacks and meals...

Buon appetito!

--Jerry Finzi
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You might also be interested in...

Forni Italiani: 21 Regional Breads from Italy
The Secret Life of Ciabatta
Scarpetta: Bread Wipes the Italian Plate Clean
Italian Easter Bread: Pane di Pasqua Recipe
Pane Coccoi: The Amazing Sardinian Art of Decorated Breads
Forno Antico Santa Chiara: More than Just a Bread Bakery

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The "Silly" Pizza from Abruzzo

7/23/2020

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Some people called my Dad acting "silly" as a negative, but not me. Anything silly, I love. Something offbeat, oddball, out of the norm, and I'm automatically drawn to it. The time Dad wore vampire teeth at a fancy wedding's cocktail hour was wonderful. My discovery of this interesting pizza is also wonderful: pizza scima ("silly pizza") from the cucina povera traditions of Abruzzo. It's authentic and offbeat.

Why is it called "silly"? To understand the name, we have to get into the evolution of the Abruzzese dialect word "scima". This is an unleavened bread, and the Italian word azzimo (masculine) or azzima (feminine) in Italian means unleavened, referring to any bread that's made without yeast. In dialect the word is ascime. Southern Italians tend to shorten words, in this case the word was simplified to scima (SHEE-ma). Scema in Italian can mean either stupid or silly, perhaps in this case referring to someone silly enough to make bread without leavening...
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Il Coppo, covered in coals with the pizza baking underneath
The history of this pizza evolved from the 13th century Jews who settled in Abruzzo and made unleavened bread. Traditionally it is baked directly on an open wood fired hearth, common in many country homes even today. After coming up to temperature, the wood coals are cleared to the sides and the dough round is placed directly on the brick base. Next, the dough is covered with a 5" tall dark steel coppo (like a large pot cover) and coal embers are placed on top. This baking method is similar to the Colonial American method of baking bread in a cast iron Dutch oven in an open fireplace.

The baking method below tries to mimic the open hearth by baking on a pre-heated pizza stone (to cook the bottom) with a dark pan placed over the top of the pizza (to create a moist, but hot baking environment). You might even try to make this pizza using a baking cloche.

Common in the southern towns of Casoli, Roccascalegna, Altino, Lanciano and San Vito Chietino, this pizza is characterized by the addition of extra virgin olive oil and wine. Each year there is even a pizza scima sagra (food festival) in Casoli.
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A similar method of baking bread in a Dutch oven
Ingredients
  • 4 cups (or 16 ounces) Italian 00 or All-Purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup Extra Virgin olive oil (EVO), preferably unfiltered.
  • 2/3 cups of an Abruzzo white wine (i.e., Trebbiano d'Abruzzo or Pecorino)
  • 2/3 cups Water (if needed to adjust texture of the dough)
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/4 cup EVO for coating

Instructions
  1. Preheat an oven with either a baking stone on the center rack, or as an alternate, a large, round, dark pan. (The stone or pan must be hot before you place your pizza dough on top for baking). You can also make this pizza on a baking steel, but since a steel heats up faster than a ceramic stone, you will need to check the underside halfway through to make sure it doesn't burn.
  2. Sift the flour onto your work surface into a large mound.
  3. Create a well in the center of the flour to hold the liquid ingredients.
  4. Slowly pour the the wine and extra virgin olive oil into the well, then work the flour into the liquid, pulling flour from the outside.
  5. The resulting dough should be shaggy at first, but soft enough to knead. If it looks dry, add a little bit of water. After kneading on the board for a minute or so, it should become soft and pliable enough to form into a ball. It should not be too dry or too sticky.
  6. Rest the dough for 30 minutes under a kitchen towel.
  7. On a floured surface or, better yet, onto a wooden pizza peel coated with corn meal, use a rolling pin and roll out the dough ball into a circular disk about 3/4" thick.
  8. Using either a single edge razor blade, a baker's lame or a very sharp knife, score a diamond pattern into the top of your dough round. Make each diamond shape about 1" to 1-1/2" wide. (If your round is on your work surface, transfer carefully to a pizza peel for transferring to the oven). An alternate method is to use a pizza/pasta wheel to make the pattern. Essentially, these cuts make this a type of pull-apart bread for mopping up sauces or topping, like bruschetta.
  9. Using a pastry brush or your bare hands, brush and coat the top of your round with the EVO.
  10. If you wish to add a bit more flavor to this authentic version, you can sprinkle the top of the bread with coarse sea salt, rosemary or fennel seeds.
  11. Slide your dough round either directly onto your baking stone or into your pre-heated pan then cover with a deep baking pan that is deep enough to leave an air space above the pizza.
  12. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top becomes golden brown.
(NOTE: An alternative method is to bake this pizza in a liberally oiled, dark, cool pan, and then cover with another larger pan.)
Useful Tools on Amazon...
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Shaped Breads Honor Saint Joseph and All Fathers

3/19/2020

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March 19 is a very special saint day in Italy... La Festa di San Giuseppe. This is the day that Catholics celebrate not only Saint Joseph, but all fathers. Consider this day as the Italian Father's Day...

A special tradition is making and serving Pane di San Giuseppe,  a shaped bread formed into a variety of designs for loaves that will adorn La Tavola di San Giuseppe. You'd be surprised at the amazing and luscious spreads on Italian's tables for their Cena di San Giuseppe, both in private homes and for community and church groups. Traditional forms for breads are crowns, crosses, crabs, donkeys, staffs, wheat, images of St. Joseph, and braids representing the Blessed Mother. This bread has a rich texture and a slightly sweet taste.  To pay homage to St. Joseph being a carpenter, breadcrumbs and sesame seeds signify sawdust fallen from his saw.


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Here is a basic recipe for making Pane di San Giuseppe in a braid form...

Ingredients
  • 2/3 cup warm milk, 110 degrees F.
  • 1 package dry active yeast
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon anise seed or 1 teaspoon anise extract
  • 1 beaten egg for glaze
  • Sesame seeds for topping

Directions
  1. Dissolve the yeast into the warm milk and allow to proof until it becomes foamy on top.
  2. Place 1 cup of flour and salt into the bowl of your electric mixer and briefly mix well using a dough hook. Then add the yeast mixture and blend at low speed. Scrape down sides as needed.
  3. Next, add the melted butter and honey, then mix for a minute or two while adding the eggs, anise seed/extract. 
  4. Gradually add more flour, little by little, scraping down sides as needed, then mix on medium until you see strands of gluten developing. Depending on humidity, you might now need all the flour. The dough should be sticky but forming into a rough, sticky ball.
  5. Place the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for several minutes, producing a smooth ball of dough.
  6. Transfer the dough to an bowl wiped with olive oil. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume.
  7. Gently punch the dough down, then place onto lightly floured surface and cut into three equal parts. 
  8. Roll each piece of dough into ropes, each about 16-18" long.
  9. Place the ropes parallel to each other onto a half sheet baking pan lined with a sheet of parchment. Then gently braid the ropes together, tucking under the ends. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise for another hour.
  10. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  11. Once the dough is risen, brush with the beaten egg, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  12. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown and a straw when pierced into the middle of the bread comes out clean.
  13. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

--GVI

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The Simplicity of a Panino

8/12/2019

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In Italy, there is a saying, "buono come il pane"... or, "It's as good as bread". This saying is used to compliment the best cooking. Think about it... that's how high Italians value a food as simple as bread, to compare other meals to it.  You can't get simpler or better than the humble panino...

During our Voyage throughout Italy, one of the simplest and affordable lunches was the panino. Most types of eating establishments have them: the trattoria, pizzeria, ristorante, osteria, taverna, tavola calda (a sort of Italian fast food shop) or bar (all bars are open for breakfast or lunch). In a tavola calda (literally, cold table) might include a wide range of lunch options, both sandwich style and stuffed. A new type is called a paninoteca, which is a shop dedicated to panini and typically open only in the middle of the day for lunch. They are designed as a grab-and-go place, but many will have a few tables.

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Grab-and-go selections at a tavola calda
In tourist areas, the restaurants tend to overcharge, but a panino was always an affordable and very satisfying option. In mornings, we also would stop in the local alimentari (like a corner deli) and pick up some cold cuts, cheese and bread to make our own panini while on the road.
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One of our favorite (and most used) kitchen appliances is our panino press, the Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler. We've had ours for about 5 years and it's still in perfect condition (the plates are non-stick and clean well). You can't beat their low price, either.

We use the flat platens for making pancakes and switch to the ridged grill plates to make panini. We buy ciabatta with olive oil from the supermarket and can make a couple of fantastic panini in about 5 minutes. One of our favorite ways to make a panino is to slice up some supermarket mozarella-salame rolls (some brands market these cheese rolls as "panino") along with slices of heirloom tomatoes on ciabatta. Set the panino press on high, give it a press for a few minutes and we're back in Tuscany!


A Short Panino History

The word "panino" literally means "little breads". In Latin, panis means bread. A panino doesn't really need to be heated, as in Italy it is often eaten as a quick snack on the run, in the field, or in the case of an Italian bachelor....
"Ehi! Mamma, make me a snack!"
Stuff some peppers and ham inside a small bread roll and Mama gives her big "bambino" a satisfying, quick snack without much effort. (She thinks, "After he gets married, HE is going to look after ME.")

This type more precisely is called a 
panino imbottito, literally "stuffed little bread". Basically it's the same as any American "hero", "hoagie" or deli sandwich. Similar to a panino is the tramezzino, a grilled/pressed sandwich made with slices of hearty white bread, sliced diagonally with the edge crusts removed.

If you want a sandwich in an Italian bar, they will ask if you want it "da riscaldere" or "riscaldo" (reheated), "alla piastra" (literally, on the plates)
, then they will usually place the panino onto a press in between two flat platens, although many will use ridged ones.

Throughout early history, bread was considered an entire meal, until it became the support (think foccacia or pizza) or container for a condiment or filling--the sandwich. Historians have found recipes for grilled sandwiches in cookbooks from the ancient Romans and it is belived that sandwiches were common across many ancient cultures. (Take that, Earl of Sandwich!)
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The bread in the photo above recreates a Roman bread, baked pre-cut into wedges (to pull-apart) and with a string tied around its waist to create a division to help pull the bread apart into two halves. The reason? To put fillings between the slices, what else? In hotos of carbonized breads found in the ruins of Pompeii, while the top was pre-sliced, the bottom half was not. Perhaps they could alternately use the bottom as a support (an edible plate) for fillings? 

The first reference of a panino appeared in a 16th-century Italian cookbook, with the first mention of "panini" appearing in 1954 in the New York Times in an article about an Italian festival in Harlem:
"The visitors ate Italian sausage, also pizze fritta, zeppole, calzone, torrone, panini, pepperoni, and taralli."

Panini as we know them today, became trendy in Milanese bars, called paninoteche, in the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, in Italy during the Eighties, a cultural fad developed in Milano where teens would meet in panino bars,... the teens were called paninnare.
In Sicily, Panini cresciuti ("grown rolls") are fried Sicilian potato rolls containing ham and cheese. Today in Italy, shops that specialize in panini are called panineria, although many of these have morphed into offering a smörgåsbord of many types of sandwiches, not just the classic panino. In Italy, sandwich shops traditionally wrap the bottom of a panino in a sheet of white paper, a way to keep hands clean, making this a true finger food.

It couldn't be simpler...

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This time I made our panini with slices of salami-mozzarella roll (Boar's Head brand "Panino" roll is nice and spicy, and they also have a Prosciutto version). I find so-called "panino rolls" are becoming a commonplace item in the supermarket fresh cheese section.

I learned in Italy that some of the best things can be very simple. This lunch is a good example of this philosophy.  Quick, healthy, simple.

You can also get more creative too... using grated cheeses like fontina, asiago, smoked gouda or cacciacavalo and using leftover chicken, prosciutto, sausage, caramelized onions, olives, peppers... whatever. (I love making a panino using leftover chicken parmesan!)  I highly recommend using a bit of smoked cheese which adds tons of flavor. Today's panino, however, was an ad hoc, simple lunch, like the ones I threw together in Italy.

I cut the ciabatta in 4 inch long sections the sliced each horizontally and unfolded them to open. I then slice the salami-mozzeralla into slices a bit less than 1/4" thick and lay 4 on each ciabatta. Some say you need to butter the outside of your bread or brush it with olive oil to make grill marks or a crust, but I omit this step, preferring less fat intake. Besides, I tend to buy "olive oil ciabatta", which helps the browning. if you want more browning, feel free to lightly brush some olive oil on the outside of the panino before cooking. Butter is rarely used in Italian cooking and is never spread on bread, so I wouldn't use it.

You can drizzle the contents of your panino with a little olive oil or perhaps a good balsamic, or even a decent store bought Italian dressing. I like to add slices of the best tomatoes I have around, adding moisture to my panino. Black olives or other giardinaria (pickled veggies) are also a good choice. My son, Lucas loves sweet pimentos on his. Try spreading some pesto on the bread too!

Setting my panini press to "grill" and to high heat, I let it preheat for a couple of minutes and then load the panini (I can only do 2 at a time of this size). I give it a good pressing at the beginning and try to position the bread (front to back... there's a sweet spot) so the press lid sits flat. After about 2-3 minutes, I give a final press--hearing the panini sizzle. I hold this press for about 30-40 seconds, pull them out, plate them and slice diagonally into triangles.

With panini, the longer you press it and hear the ingredients sizzle, the more crunch you will have in your bread. Too many people think a panini is buttered and grilled bread with cold cuts put inside unheated, and many restaurants order packaged sandwich bread with grill marks factory-burned into their crusts, then use it to make make a normal sandwich, calling it a panini. I've even seen sliced factory "panini bread" with the "grill" marks already there. Shame!

A true grilled panino must be pressed and heated to meld the ingredients (that's meld, not melt) into one cohesive, gooey mess of deliciousness. And take note, if you use cold cuts and sliced cheese, the cheese must be placed both on top and on the bottom--the melted cheese helps hold the bread together. A grilled panini is not like a normal sandwich... you should not be able to lift the bread off after it's been pressed and cooked. That is, unless you're in Italy, where most basic sandwiches are known as "panini". What I make is a grilled panino.

So, get yourself a panino press (no need for an expensive one) and start cooking. Buon appitito!

--Jerry Finzi


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Cucina Povera Recipe for Breakfast - Acquasala

4/26/2019

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Acquasala (or Acquasale, Acqua Sala) is one of the cucina povera--poor dishes--of southern Italy, especially in the Lucane Dolomites of Basilicata and olive oil rich Puglia. this simple fare was enjoyed by farmers and shepherds. Its close cousin is panzanella, a sort of salad that uses torn up pieces of stale bread reconstituted with water as its base.  Acquasala is a dish made from the simplest ingredients that any peasant contadina had around: eggs, onion, water, peppers or tomatoes and especially, the stale bread. Think of it as a mashup between eggs Benedict and an Italian broth, where the broth replaces the Hollandaise sauce. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or even a light dinner.
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In it's simplest form, an acquasala is stale, crusty bread topped with a poached egg and a flavored broth poured over. The bread soaks up the resulting broth and its flavors. I'm certain that others in southern Italy might replace the stale bread with Friselli, a bagel-shaped, bone-dry toasted bread sold in bags in southern Italy. One easy to find bread nowadays is the ciabatta, left to go a bt stale or with the thick slices toasted before use.

Don't think of this recipe as being ironclad in terms of the ingredients. Be creative. This is cucina povera, after all, which means that cooks used what they had on hand depending on the season: eggs from their chickens, stale bread, tomatoes, peppers, asparagus, eggplant, zucchini, white or red onions, a bit of garlic, mushrooms and greens. Southerners loved their greens, whether a bit of dandilion, arugla or chives. To be absolutely authentic, warm water (not boiled) is traditionally used to make the "broth", with the peppers and onions added to it for a light fusion of flavors. In Puglia it's often made without eggs and many more more ingredients, a cross between a soup and a salad.


PicturePepperone Crusco
Acquasala Lucan

Ingredients
(serves 2, with one egg each)
  • 2 thick slices hearty bread, stale is best (you can also use cubed bread. Ciabatta works well). You can also use rustic croutons that you tossed with olive oil and toasted in the oven ahead of time.   
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1-1/2 cups  water
  • 1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion, finely diced
  • 2 small pimentos, chopped roughly (alternate, 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes)           NOTE: For authenticity, use long, dried hot chile peppers, called pepperone crusco in Basilicata.
  • 1 small tomato, diced (for more flavor, dice 2 sun-dried tomatoes)
  • 4 tablespoons oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Grated or shredded Parmigiano Reggiano or crumbled ricotta salata for topping off the dish.
 
Directions
  1. Place the olive oil in a saute pan, then add the onions and cook until translucent.
  2. Next, add the pimentos and tomatoes and simmer for 2 minutes
  3. Add the water and salt and bring to a gentle boil.
  4. As you would do when poaching eggs, crack open each egg and place each gently into the pan, keeping the eggs from touching. Try to keep the whites of each egg from spreading as you drop them into the broth. Simmer the eggs until the whites are cooked through but the yolk is still runny. Remove from heat when done.
  5. Place one slice (or cubes) of bread in the center of each of your bowls, then place an egg on top of each.
  6. Gently pour the broth over the eggs, using half for each serving.
  7. Top off with a dusting of Parmigiano Reggiano, caciocavallo or crumbled ricotta salata. Salt and pepper to taste.

Boun appetito!

--Jerry Finzi



Pugliese Acquasala...

Copyright 2019, Jerry Finzi/GrandVoyageitaly.com - All Rights Reserved
Not to be published without expressed authorization

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Italian Easter Celebration Breads & Torte

2/25/2019

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Pane Di Pasqua with Eggs
Easter is called Pasqua in Italy, and is a time for celebration and breaking the Lenten fast. In Italy, spring comes early, the weather is wonderful and the scent of flowers blossoming are everywhere. Pasqua is a time for feasting with la famiglia. The Monday after Easter Sunday is a national holiday called Pasquetta (Little Easter), when most businesses close and workers spend the day at home with their family.

There are many types of celebration sweet pane (breads) and savory torte (cakes or tarts) in Italy, many of which made from family recipes handed down from generation to generation--often hundreds of years old. Some are known all over Italy while others are regional or local traditional recipes. One has to keep in mind, however, that even within each region there are variations in these recipes--often changing from town to town or family to family. Just keep in mind, it's all about the feast.

Here are some of the more popular treats with links to their traditional Italian recipes. If you need translations you can always cut and paste the text of each recipe into Google Translate (or better yet, install a translation plug-in into your browser to do it automatically).

Enjoy... and Buona Pasqua!
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Colomba di Pasqua
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Pane di Ramerino
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Pizza al Formaggio
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Pane di Patate alle Erbe
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Torta Pasqualina Genovese
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Torta Verde di Riso
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Torta di Cipolle

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Pastiera Napoletana
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Sguta Calabrese
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Cassata Siciliana di Pasqua

You might also be interested in...

Our Pane di Pasqua Recipe
Vintage Italian Easter Cards
Decorated Italian Easter Eggs
How Italians Celebrate Easter
Celebrating Easter in Italy
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A Simple, but Luscious Treat: Pandoro Christmas Tree with Custard

12/30/2018

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The Italian Christmas season continues past our American idea of the holiday... all the way to January 6th. To really live the Italian Lifestyle, especially during the Christmas season, this means doing what Italians do... extending the celebrations in many traditional ways.

One amazingly simply Italian tradition is to make a Pandoro Christmas Tree or Albero di Natale di Pandoro. And the great thing about this dessert is you don't even have to bake one yourself.
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Our Pandoro Tree ready for serving, thrown together in less than an hour
PictureAn naked Pandoro awaiting its regal clothes
During the Christmas Holidays--even in the States--panettone and pandoro are both in plentiful supply, even in large supermarket chains. In fact, I bought several imported pandoro and panettone (they store and freeze well) two days after Christmas for under $5 each!

Pandoro literally means golden bread, and lends itself to making a tree shape because of its fluted sides. To make a tree shape, simply cut 3/4 - 1" thick slices, ensuring that each slice is cut as flat as possible to prevent your "tree" from leaning when re-assembling later. A very sharp chef's knife is better than a serrated bread knife which would create too many crumbs.

You will be filling each layer and re-assembling by alternating the position of each layer to position its points in between the points of the layers below them. Keep track of the orientation of the layers and re-assemble to keep your "tree" from leaning--flipping them upside and to the side after cutting each helps keep them in order.

To make ours, I brushed each layer with a coating of heated and softened seedless red raspberry jam, then willed each layer with some vanilla custard, the same recipe I use when I make pasticiotti. You can also fill them with zabaglione, butter cream, or a store-bought vanilla, or other flavored pudding mix.

I held back a bit of the custard and placed it into a piping bag with a fluted tip, then piped rosettes around the tiers of the assembled panettone tree, placing a blackberry on each. You can use fresh blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or pitted cherries. Top the cake with more piped custard and berries, or place a star-shaped Christmas cookie standing up.  Powdered sugar adds a dusting of "snow" to make it look really festive.

Traditionally, you make tall sliced wedges for each serving and lay them on their side in a dessert plate.

Vanilla Custard Recipe

While French style egg custards can be difficult to master, this is a very easy custard due to the fact that the cornstarch is the thickening agent. This recipe can be used for many pastry treats that utilize a custard as a bed for berries.


Ingredients
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1 - 1/2 cup whole milk or Half & Half
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon butter

Directions
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cornstarch and sugar.
Whisk in the milk and egg yolks.
Place the saucepan on medium heat, stirring with either whisk or spatula until the custard starts to thicken.
Add the vanilla extract and butter and stir until creamy, thick and smooth.
Transfer to a bowl to cool, covering the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming.

Spread melted seedless on each layer of your pandoro and then spread on a layer of custard. Do this for each payer as you re-assemble your "tree". Pipe rosettes as described above and place your berries. Dust with powdered sugar.

Buon Natale!

--Jerry Finzi



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Pane Carasau, the Crispy Flat Bread from Sardinia

9/11/2018

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Ancient Sardinians had a saying: Chie hat pane, mai no morit (who has bread, will never die). This is true for most of the world. Pane Carasau is one of the ancient breads they were talking about. You can imagine the ancients making this bread because of its long storage capabilities and portability. 

It is a a very thin flat bread--some might call a cracker--that was traditionally made for shepherds by the housewives to carry with them for long months on high pastures with their flocks. They can be eaten with sausage and cheese, or dipped in milk to re-hydrate for colazione and drizzled with honey or jam. Pane Frattau is a soup made with shards of Pane Carasau, meat, eggs, cheese and tomato. Modern Sardinian chefs are also using pane carasau in their recipes, for instance, carasau lasagna.

The tedious method by which is is made creates a thin, crispy bread that will last literally for months, even if it happens to crack into shards along their travels. There are some who refer to this flatbread as carte della musica (music sheets) because of its thinness.
 
The dough itself is fairly simple: durum wheat, yeast, water and salt. It's rolled into extremely thin rounds and baked in a wood oven until the bread puffs up like a balloon, then quickly (with dexterity, not to get steam-burned) cut into two halves, making it even thinner. They are then toasted again in the oven and dried completely. Nowadays, in Italy you might even come across packaged Pane Carasau in supermarkets.

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Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 Cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 1/2 Cups Semolina Flour (Durham)
  • 1 teaspoon, Active Dry Yeast
  • 1 1/2 Cups Warm Water (Approximate, depending on humidity)
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
The best results are achieved in a wood pizza oven, but you can use a baking steel (this holds heat better than a baking stone). Place the steel on the bottom rack (with all others removed) in an oven, the preheat to its maximum temperature (typically 550 F). If you want to use a baking stone, the cook time will be slightly shorter. You might also benefit by having a thin, metal pizza peel to remove your  pane carasau from the oven.
Directions
  1. Place the baking steel into your oven and preheat to maximum temperature.
  2. In a 2 cup measuring cup or small bowl, dissolve the yeast, sugar and all the water,  then proof for about 15 minutes.
  3. In a stand mixer, at first combine the all-purpose flour with salt.
  4. Mixing on low speed, add the yeast mixture to the flour.
  5. Mixing at a low speed, add 1/4 cup at a time of the bread flour until the dough climbs the dough hook, then knead briefly into a smooth ball on a lightly floured surface.
  6. Place into an oiled bowl and cover with a damp, cotton kitchen towel until doubled.
  7. Knead the dough for a second time on a lightly flowered surface for 2-3 minutes, them place back into the bowl for one more hour.
  8. Place the dough ball onto a lightly floured surface and cut into four equal pieces.
  9. Roll each into a long cylinder about 2'3" thick, then cutting each into small segments, each one about the side of a small dinner roll.
  10. With cupped hands, roll each segment into a ball shape.
  11. Using a straight rolling pin, roll out each round as thin as possible, about the size of a dinner plate.
  12. Since each one is baked separately, it's best to get help from other members of your family:  One person is responsible for rolling out the flat rounds; The baker will be responsible for placing them into the oven onto the steel (or stone), keeping a watch on them as they bake, turning them over when puffed up, and removing them; A third person is needed to cut them in half with a very sharp paring knife and stack them before toasting in the oven a second time (which can be done after all have been cut and stacked.)
  13. The time it takes to bake your pane carasau depends on your oven. Obviously, in a 900 degree+ wood pizza oven, they will cook in less than a minute. In a 550 F oven with a baking steel, this might take 2-3 minutes. Using a baking stone, it might take a bit longer. This is the type of baking you need to keep a constant eye on, flipping over the ballooning breads briefly before removing them for cutting. I recommend studying how this is done in the video below. 

  14. Remove, brush lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh chopped rosemary and salt and return to the oven for a few minutes.
  15. Let sit until cool enough to handle, then break into large pieces.
  16. Serve warm.
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Summer Treats: Brioche Gelato Burger!

8/1/2018

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Summer is in full swing, and with Italy currently in the midst of a full blown heatwave, here is an idea from southern Italy that will help you beat the heat...
Brioche Gelato Burgers!

More and more popular in Sicily, Puglia and Calabria, the trend is catching on. In the last several years, the sweet, glossy brioche bun has gained popularity in the States, used as the go-to bun for burgers and sliders. But the sweet, soft crumb of the classic brioche also pairs well with gelato (OK, and ice cream, too). Grilling the sliced brioche helps raise the flavor a notch. Toppings or spreads can include, crushed pistachios or sliced almonds, Nutella,  Pirouettes crackers, almond biscotti crumbs, whipped cream or zabaglione, or a smear of almond paste. How about a trio of gelato sliders? To add crunch, tuck a pizzelle inside!

Stay cool!

--GVI
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Modern  Pompeii Baker Recreates Ancient Roman Breads

4/16/2018

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