From Cucina del Sole (2007) by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, this is the English description of Pina's scaccia which I first tasted Christmas 1999, and which is illustrated in the Italian Antiche Ricette (2003), a local cookbook from Ragusa. Pina does a broccoli variation. Its like having a lasagna that you can hold in your hand.
Jenkins:
"This is probably the most unusual focaccia of all, made up of layers of dough rolled out till almost as thin as fil; the difference howeve is that this is a yeasted dough, so it rises and puff in a way that filo never does. It comes from Ragusa, a hill town in the southeastern corner of Sicily. Ragusano cooks who fire thier old-fashioned masonry ovens with olive branches or almon shells, say its the finest way to show off Ragusa's prized caciocavallo cheese, called ragusano and made from the milk of the local dark-brown modicana cows.....for the most authentic flavor you will definitely want a cow's milk cheese, preferably made from raw milk and aged for a couple of months at least.
- 1/2 tsp dry yeast
- 3 cups semolina
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups Basic Tomato Sauce
- 3/4 pound ragusano or other cheese
- 1/2 cup finely grated hard aged cheese
- 18 - 24 fresh basil leaves or 2-3 tsp dried oregano
- freshly ground black pepper
First make the dough: mix the yeast with 1cup of ver warm water and set asside until the yeast is fully dissoved. Add 1 cup of semolina to a large bowl and pour in the yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon to mix well, but don't worry if the mixture is a little lumpy and looks more like a porridge than bread dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 2 hours to fement and develop.
When the surface of the starter dough is puffy and bubbly, add about a tablespoon of salt to 1/2 cup of very warm water and set aside to dissolve. Stir the remaining 2 cups of semolina into the starter dough, then add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and mix well. [GBR: note this ends up with a 2:1 proportion of flour to water, same as NYT bread recipe]. Add the salted water a little at a time stirring it well after each addition. You may not need to use all of it -- much depends on the humidity of the room in which you are working. Stir the water in with a wooden spoon, then with your hands. Finally, when you can handle the dough easily, spread 1/3 cup of all purpose flour on a bread board and turn the dough out. Knead for 5-10 minutes, or until the dough is soft and elastic and has lost much of its stickiness.
Rinse the bowl and dry it, then sprinkle a few drops of olive oil in the bottom. Add the dough to the bowl, turning it to cover with olive oil, then cover with plastic wrap and set aside to develop for 2-4 hours, or until doubled.
While the dough is rising, use either a vegetable peeler to shave the ragusano cheese into flakes or use the largest holes of a box grater. Set aside.
When ready to make the focaccia, separate the dough into 3 equal pieces. Coat the bottom of a baking sheet that will hold all three foccace with olive oil. Have ready the tomato sauce, cheeses, pepper and basil. Spread a layer of semolina onto the bread board and roll the dough out tith a rolling pin to make a big oval a good 14 to 16 inches long and 10 inches wide. Roll the dough as thin as you possibly can -- less than 1/16th of an inch is ideal. Working quickly, spread a good 1/4 cup of the tomato saus ove the surface of the oval, then lay a handful of the shaved cheese down the middle and sprinkle with some of the grated cheese. Layer the basil leaves ove the tomato sauce or sprinkle with oregano.Grind pepper over all.
Fold the long left side of the oval in over the center of the dough, then fold the right side in on top of it, as if you were folding a letter. You will have a long rectangle. Paint the top surface with about 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce and scatter a little more grated cheese over it. Now fold the bottom of the rectangle to cover the middle part of the dough and, again, smooth a little tomato sauce and grated cheese on top. Then fold down the top of the rectangle to cover the sauce. At this point you will have a thick portfolio or envelope made of layer of dough, tomato sauce, and cheese. Transfer the portfolio to the oiled sheet and continue assembling the remaining pieces of dough.
When all the dough has been shaped, dribble or paint a little olive oil over the top and set aside, lightly covered with plastic wrap, to rise for about an hour. Preheat the oven to 425F. Transfer the risen focaccia to the oven and bake for 40-60 minutes or until the crust is crisp and brown on top and cooked all the way through. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. " pp73-74, Cucina del Sole, N.H. Jenkins
