Beyond Focaccia: The Heavenly Flavour of Sicilian Flatbread

Craving a taste of Sicily? 🇮🇹 Look no further! This video unveils the secrets of Schiacciata Catanese, a mouthwatering flatbread bursting with flavor.

Imagine: Crispy, golden dough layered with savory sausage, melty cheese, fresh veggies, and a touch of spinach. We’ll guide you through every step, from the fluffy semolina flour dough to the delicious filling options.

Plus, learn valuable tips for perfect results! Say goodbye to delivery and hello to homemade Sicilian goodness!

Ingredients:

Dough:
400 g (14 oz) semolina flour
100 g (3.5 oz) all-purpose flour
325 ml (11 fl oz) water
15 g (1/2 tsp) salt
4 g (1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
Filling:
300 g (10.5 oz) Italian sausage, casings removed and crumbled
60g (5.3 oz) grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 red onion, thinly sliced
100 g (3.5 oz) cherry tomatoes, halved
75 g (2.6 oz) black olives, pitted and halved
300 g (12 oz) potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 bunch spinach, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, minced

Here are the cooking instructions for the Schiacciata Catanese, broken down into clearer steps:

Dough:
In a large bowl, combine the semolina flour and all-purpose flour.
In a separate bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and stir until a shaggy dough forms.
Add a little olive oil and salt to the dough, and knead for about 2 minutes by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, until smooth and elastic.
Divide the dough in half, one half slightly larger than the other.
Place the dough balls in separate oiled tupperware containers, cover them, and let them rise at room temperature for about 6 hours, or until doubled in size.

Filling:
While the dough rises, prepare the filling ingredients.
Slice the onion, cherry tomatoes, black olives, and potatoes (in small circles).
Place the sliced potatoes in a bowl of water with a little salt to prevent browning.
In a large bowl, combine the sliced vegetables.
Remove the casings from the sausages, crumble them, and add them to the vegetable bowl.
Season with fennel seeds, salt, and pepper.
Heat some olive oil in a pan. Add the spinach and minced garlic, and cook until the spinach wilts. Remove from heat and set aside.
Grate or chop the cheese.
Assembly and Baking:
Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F) (180°C/350°F for a fan-assisted oven).
Line a baking tray with baking paper and brush it with some olive oil.
Take the larger dough ball and spread it out on the prepared baking tray using your hands. Ensure the dough covers the entire surface and there’s enough left over the edges to fold over later.
Drain the potatoes and spread them over the dough base.
Top the potatoes with the sausage and vegetable mixture.
Spread the cooked spinach and mushrooms over the sausage and vegetables.
Add the cheese on top.
Drizzle some olive oil over the top of the filling.
Take the other dough ball and spread it out on a separate piece of baking paper brushed with olive oil.
Carefully transfer the dough from the baking paper onto the top of the filled Schiacciata. Gently remove the top baking paper.
Using your fingers, seal the edges of the dough by pinching the top and bottom dough together.
Prick the top of the Schiacciata with a fork a few times to allow steam to escape while baking.
Let the Schiacciata rest for another 15 minutes at room temperature.
Bake the Schiacciata for about 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown.
If using a fan-assisted oven, lower the temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake until golden brown.
Remove the Schiacciata from the oven and let it cool slightly before serving.

Tips:
If the potatoes are too thick, they may not cook through completely. You may want to parboil them for a few minutes before adding them to the filling.
Adjust the amount of salt and pepper to your taste.
You can use any type of black olives you like.
Enjoy your delicious Schiacciata Catanese!

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00:00 Welcome
00:43 Dough Preparation
03:16 Ingredients
04:19 Spinach & Mushrooms
06:02 Mixing the Ingredients
07:30 Filling the Schiacciata
12:38 Catania
17:05 Serving & Arrivederci

#tortellino #tortellinotime #sicilianfood #flatbread #italianrecipes #easyrecipe #vegetarian #homecooking #schiacciata

bno and welcome back to my virtual Toro
Sicily where I’m hopping around the
island and telling a little bit about
the history only very very much
scratching the Surfers of course but
more importantly picking on some of the
typical dishes from each area and
cooking them together today I will be
moving to the Eastern side of the island
up until now I’ve been focusing on the
western side and I’ll be going into the
katana area Katana is also where I was
born I’ll be cooking a ska Katan which
is like a pie with Savory fillings
inside there are different versions but
I’ll be doing a meat eater version today
and we will CRA on by starting with the
mix for the pie this Kata Katan is made
of two type of flour one is semolina and
one is plain flour the 80% is semolina
so you have got 400 G of semolina flour
and I’m now adding another 100 G of norm
more plain flour so that is that 80/20
split wow that’s pretty
close and then I will also be adding a
good pinch of
salt next is water and in this
particular recipe 65% needs to be water
so I’ve got 325 mL of
water and I will be adding some yeast to
it and I’m not going to be putting the
whole sachche only approxim
approximately half which is about 4
g mix with a spoon and uh then we will
add it to our
flour and start working it initially
with a spoon until uh the flour absorbed
most of the
water once it reaches the point where it
becomes difficult that’s when you can
get your hands dirty
once your dough is completely absorbed
all of the bits of flour you can to
remove it from the bowl and put it on
your worktop and continue mixing it and
kneading it with your
hands and this should not be requiring
very long as a semolina flower is much
easier to work with so literally just a
minute or so and uh you should be pretty
much
done wonderful job done I’m going to be
putting it back in my bowl
that and we’re done for now and this
will now need to rest for a good 6 hours
I will be covering it up with a damp
cloth and I’ll be placing mine inside
the Airing cab as is a nice warm area
but room temperature as long as your
house is not freezing cold will also be
fine so I’m now off for a long run it’s
a lovely beautiful day and uh I fancy
really going for a jog and I’ll be doing
some jobs in the garden as Julie keep
giving me all these jobs to do but when
I come back this afternoon I’ll tell you
a little bit about Kat being such a
special place because I was born there
no that’s not why it’s a special place
I’ll tell you a little bit about Kat and
a little bit of the history and Etna but
also we can continue with the recipe cha
cha see you this afternoon bye hi there
I’m back and the door is nearly ready
has been almost 6 hours and more
importantly I’ve been released from
garden duties so I’m going to quickly
show you the ingredients as I go them
all ready and then we can
craon we putting together this Kata and
here we go we’ve got the door is under
the blanket and then we have some
spinach sausages a little fenel I will
be using emental cheese also Pino cheese
have grated there are um 300 G of potato
which have sliced very very thinly they
are in water so they they do not turn
black also we’ve got a one clove of GAC
again very very finely chopped and a
very very finely chopped Red Onion
medium size some cherry tomatoes again
thinly sliced and also I halfed some
black olives and some mushrooms which I
also halfed so I’ll uh put it together
and I’ll run through but of course the
description will give you the quantities
that you
need good thing about the skata is that
beside the cooking in the oven the only
cooking required is going to be the
spinach and the mushroom so there is a
very minimum requirement and I’ll do
that now by starting by pouring a little
olive oil in a
pan and once the oil is nice and warm
I’m going to add my mushrooms
first I’ll mix them together initially
so that all of the oil goes into some of
the
mushrooms and I’ll place the lid on and
I’ll let it cook for a good 2 to three
minutes before I do anything
else after a few minutes the mushrooms
are partly cooked especially as I put
the lid on and they cook considerably
faster
and I’m going to be adding my sliced
garc I didn’t add earlier because I
didn’t want to burn it mix it and also
add the spinach at the same
time and put the lead back on for a few
more
minutes as I’m using some sausages and
these are not seasoned with anything
just straight pork sausages I’m removing
the skin so that I can season them with
some fennel and uh they already got salt
so I’m not going to be putting any salt
but if you are using sausages which have
got already seasoning by all mean you
can just chop without removing the skin
because the purpose is for me to treat
them with some uh some herbs so once
they all dis skinned I’ll be putting
them in a bowl and I’m adding some
fennel I add fennels because it’s a very
very typical Sicilian herb and it goes
incredibly well with sausages and is
very commonly used throughout Sicily and
my best suggestion for this is to use
your hand as you’ll be able to literally
squish the sausages and make sure that
the fenel goes inside the meat and I’m
going to start putting everything
together and I’ll start very much with
the sausages so in a larger Bowl I put
them in also showed you earlier some
onions which I had sliced this is a red
onion and if you look they’re incredibly
thinly sliced very very important that
they are cut very very
small the same applies to the tomatoes
again I have used some cherry tomatoes
and I have cut them very very thinly and
also I have half some um black olives so
they all go in and using my hands I’ll
be mixing everything together which is
much easier than using any other tools
really so that you can ensure that you
do not damage the tomatoes as they are
almost proberly quite thin but also
everything is mixed throughout I’m going
to add also a little
pepper and I’ve grated some pegorino
this is 60 G of
pegorino and I’ll mix everything
together I’m not going to add any salt
at this point because the peino is quite
salty and if I add more salt bearing in
mind that I put quite a bit of salt also
in my pie it will be too salty so I
think I’m going to be stopping with a
peino and lastly I will be adding a
little olive oil and one Final
Mix and my vegetables are also cooked as
you will see the spinach has shun
considerably I’m going to add a tiny
little amount of salt and also some
pepper I’ll mix them together and let
them cool down for a little bit and now
it’s time to have a look at the doll
look it’s beautiful has uh grown by
quite a bit and uh it looks nice and
soft and ready to be mixed now so I will
remove it from the bowl and I’ll put it
on my
worktop and I’m just going to give it
one final and gentle massage just to get
it in shape
really go along with your knife and cut
it in half but um one half slightly
bigger than the other so that that can
be the base and that can be the top I’ve
placed some baking paper on a baking tin
and I’m going to be putting a tiny
little amount of olive oil down first
and using a brush I’m going to be
spreading throughout the surface of the
paper also I’ve made the paper purposely
slightly bigger so that it goes up on
the edges as well but with a brush
ensure that you brush the edges as well
and very simply place your door inside
it and start spreading it using your
fingers and you will see that is nice
and elastic you will have no problems
whatsoever in doing it with your fingers
I’m finding that the best way to do this
is to get a hold of the tin with your
fingers and then just gently pull the
door towards you you can also tend the
tin around so that you’ve got slightly
raised
edges if you get little holes like this
just fix them with your fingers no
problem
whatsoever and I’m now starting with the
layering of for the skata or pie
whichever way you want to call it and
the very first thing to put down is the
potato they are thinly very very thinly
sliced look literally almost cheap size
very very important that you do not do
them too thick otherwise they will not
cook properly and the next ingredient is
going to be my mix of meat and all of
the vegetables together and try and stay
away from the edges Maybe by an inch or
something like that so that um it gives
you the opportunity to then close it
later
and P it down with your
hands mushrooms and spinach is next
which I have cooled down now so I can
safely pick them up with my hand make
sure that if you’ve got any water left
from the preparation of the spinach that
you remove this because um you don’t
want this to get soggy and again put it
down with your hands build a nice little
mountain a bit like Mountain it now
maybe and my last layer is going to be
cheese I’m using some Amal which is
already pre sliced I got three slices
here which is just perfect I’m putting
the cheese on the top so that as it
melts it will sip through and will catch
all of the ingredients delicious get
hold of another piece of baking paper
similar size to the tin you’re using or
similar size to the previous one and add
a little olive oil and again using a
brush ens sure that you sprayed it uh
evenly
throughout and uh place the other half
of the door and uh start modeling it so
that you create effectively a cover for
your skata and again you can use your
hands quite easily because it’s lovely
and elastic the the dough there I think
that should do it so place your sket
back on the work toop and move your
other half on
top ens sure that it mares the bottom
and uh first thing to do is to remove
the paper which will be very easy
because you have greased it with olive
oil
there then go in with your fingers and
start sealing the door the top part of
the door with the bottom part of the
door this is why is important that you
leave uh a good inch for like not like
this one a good inch away from the edge
for your ingredients so that you’ve got
the ability to do this perfect I’m very
happy that I’ve got a nice seal
throughout the outside of my skata so
this is nearly ready to go in the oven
now however before we put it in the oven
I’m going to be piercing it with a fork
and this will stop the dough from uh
rising up like a mountain but also it
will give the opportunity to the skata
to breathe and it might also look quite
pretty apply one last drop of olive oil
and with your brush spread it across
this will ensure that it will give you a
lovely Golden Crust on the top and of
course you can use your hands to ensure
that the oil covers the entire surface
and this is ready to go in the oven I
will be putting in the oven for
approximately 1 hour 200° in a
conventional oven not a fan oven today
and if you do not have the opportunity
to turn your fan off because you got a
fan oven um you can actually lower the
temperature by 20° to 180 but still for
approximately 1 hour until you get nice
golden crusty top and that’s the
indication that it’s going to be ready
so in the meantime I’ll be coming back
and I’ll tell you a little bit about
catani of course and I’m back the skant
is merely cooking away and I just
finished my washing up and uh like a
good boy I can relax and tell you calmly
a little bit about Kat I should have
also mentioned that the skata I’m making
is quite Rich the basic skata which goes
back to the 1800 funnily enough was much
simpler it was made with anues tomatoes
potatoes or was the potatoes and also
some cheese and that was a stable diet
for the man who would go to work and
work the land in the morning and come
back in the evening over the years the
recipe has evolved and eventually was
something that actually was
predominantly only cooked for Christmas
and I remember actually as a little boy
going to visit my grandparents and
getting really excited about eating this
ketata which was always a Kat speciality
nowadays obviously things have changed
and although they still cook it for
Christmas as it is a tradition also it’s
available any time of the year but also
any time of the day and it is actually
classified as one of katan’s street food
also you might think that Katana because
of its position near the Etna has got
very fertile um soils and to an extent
you are right but not in the extreme
proximity to the volcano because the
there is a lot of rock and the land is
very very hard and there is also a very
high level of potassium and nothing
really grows properly because the
volcano is constantly active however as
you move away from uh the immediate
proximity and you go to Greater katania
where the ashes have had the opportunity
to effectively turn into compost and uh
they’ve been treated and rotated the
ground is really really good and very
fertile and they grow some amazing
grapes and some beautiful great wine and
also that tomatoes are something
astonishing and that’s why actually the
pasta Alan Norma it originates mostly
from Kat I actually made past Lorma and
also made a lasagna Alan Norma version
which uh I’m not going to make obviously
as part of the store because I already
made them but I’ll put a a click up here
but also I will put a link at the end of
this video so if you want to a look at
and that is because of the good and high
quality of tomatoes that they thrive in
in that particular environment and also
being very very sunny so we have
established that Kat is built at the
bottom of Mountain Etna Mountain Etna
it’s one of the most active volcano in
the world and that comes with this
prices always beautiful and I’m sure
that often you’ve seen on televisions
some stunning images of the volcano
activities it actually has created some
devastating consequences in the past
back in 1669 there was a particular
eruption which almost totally destroyed
Kat and um the good thing that came out
from that is that I gave the planers the
opportunity to rebuild Kat in a
different way and they were able to
adopt what was in Europe at the time the
Barack architecture and uh they also
build very large roads and lots of
squares and lots of monuments and
churches adopting that style and that is
visible throughout Katana today and if
you were to go and visit you would be
amazed by the beauty of the Baro
architecture which is visible in a lot
of the buildings however I personally
still think is a little bit strange that
you’ve got this volcano constantly
smoking and people living beneath it but
it is amazing actually what people um
get used to and that they get become
home for them interestingly I was
talking to Julie this morning about it
and she said so if they rebuild it why
didn’t they rebuild this somewhere else
and I said most probably because just
like the vus you know because it’s home
and people want to live when home is so
that’s why most probably they rebuilt
Katana where where it is so it’s a
beautiful city it’s incredibly diverse
and uh you will find that if you were to
go and visit you will fall in love with
the architecture and the way that has
been built because it’s modern but also
it’s incredibly incredibly beautiful so
that’s it about Kat for today hopefully
I’ve not bored you to death but if I
have but mean you could skip to the next
chapter and we are ready it’s just out
of the oven and uh I have actually put
it on the work toop to cool down for a
few minutes because it’s piping hot
however what I’ll do I will uh show you
how I’m going to try and remove it from
the tin fly the paper is really handy
cuz enable me to pick it up without
burning myself
and yes you’ve guessed it Julia has
arrived because food is ready it’s tea
time it’s tea time to remove the paper
gently lift the skata with a spatula and
just take it off we did put olive oil so
you’ll find that uh it should slide just
nice and easy and I’m ready to duck in
and cut a
piece what is a particular distinctive
thing about this is the combination of
flour of of course because using
semolina flour and U 80% semolina and
20% normal flour clearly is kind of
unique to
skata maybe have a pizza just the
general yeah I suppose
maybe and there he
comes wow that looks good
yeah it might be a bit of a street food
sort of thing but I’m going to be using
a plate it’s too big this ones here by
the way Julia potatoes it’s not all ah
potatoes potatoes yeah
lovely I’m going to treat us this street
food and take a good
bite say absolutely wonderful it reminds
me when I was a little boy and we used
to get the treat at Christmas my
grandparents house delosa absolutely
wonderful the mixture of the ingredients
very rich but really really delicious
and of course you can make a vegetarian
version if you like so try it is really
really nice and the combination as I
said ear of the two flow is what makes
unique the pastry actually is not heavy
initially I thought I I thought I was a
little bit skeptic because of semolina
but because we did let it to rest for 6
hours it is nice and Light also is very
very crispy so absolutely beautiful try
it let me know how you’re going if you
do chiao Chow see you later bye