This is one of those things that you crave for many months of the year but can only find for a fleeting moment. Then you have to wait patiently for the rest of the year before they will appear again in bakery shop windows. You can of course make it at home, but grapes — and the best ones to use for this delicious treat, local Tuscan wine grapes such as canaiolo or American concord grapes, called uva fragola in Italian (“strawberry grapes”) for their sweetness and fragrance — are seasonal too, and can usually only be found around harvest time in the months of September and early October. So I am actually posting this a few days late, but you might still be lucky to see schiacciata all’uva in Florentine bakeries even now.
Schiacciata is the Tuscan word for what most English-speakers might recognise as ‘focaccia’. Aptly meaning ‘squashed’ or ‘flattened’, schiacciata is flattened with the fingers of the baker, leaving characteristic pock marks along the top of the dough that hold wonderful pockets of olive oil and salt. Schiacciata all’uva is of course a sweet version, and not to be confused with this schiacciata, a very traditional bread made in parts of Tuscan for Easter (in this case, it’s quite the opposite of something that you would describe as ‘squashed’, but they say that it’s named for all the eggs that are cracked to make this bread). Last year I also posted a recipe for a ricotta and cherry tomato schiacciata made with farro flour, inspired by the method of making schiacciata all’uva.
Schiacciata all’uva is made with two layers of dough, with plenty of red grapes dotted in the middle and on top, usually the favourite is the berry-like concord grapes, seeds in and all – oh yes, that crunch is part of what makes this delicacy so delightful.
A couple of tips: Try to avoid using table grapes or white grapes for this schiacciata, they just don’t do this bread justice, the table grapes in terms of flavour and the white grapes purely in terms of visual appearance. The dark, violet, jammy juice oozing from the red grapes is part of its appeal. If you can’t get good, sweet wine or concord grapes or it’s the wrong season, try this with blueberries. It’s completely unorthodox, but it’s a very tasty substitute and you get a much closer result than using table grapes.
A sprinkling of raw sugar over the top together with the grapes leads to a juicy, sticky-fingered situation when eating this, but it is not overly sweet, making a perfect treat for breakfast or a mid-morning snack. Icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar) dusted over the top of the schiacciata when completely cool is optional, if you prefer a bit of extra sweetness.
Schiacciata all’uva
- 500 gr plain flour (if using Italian flour, tipo ’00)
- Around 400 ml room temperature water
- 1 teaspoon dried yeast (12 gr of fresh yeast)
- a few bunches of fresh concord or other sweet red grapes (about 900 grams)
- 4-6 tablespoons caster or raw sugar
- 3-4 generous glugs of extra virgin olive oil
- icing (confectioner’s) sugar for dusting, if you like
Preparing the dough:
Prepare the dough for the schiacciata, this can be done the night before you need to bake it, or a couple of hours ahead of time.
Dissolve the yeast in a little bit (a few tablespoons) of the water with a tablespoon of the flour. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the yeast mixture. Mix to combine — I do this by hand. Bit by bit add the rest of the water, stirring the dough after each addition, allowing the flour to absorb all the water. Add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to the dough. It will be quite a wet, sticky dough.
Rather than cover with a cloth, I like to use an upturned bowl that sits snuggly inside the bowl holding the dough and set it in a warm place, away from drafts, until it doubles in size (about two hours). If you do this the night before, you can leave the dough in the bowl to rise in the fridge – it will rise slowly, and this will result in superior flavour and smell.
Assembling the schiacciata:
Wash and pat dry the grapes and separate them from the stem, no need to deseed them, Tuscans eat them with the seeds and all.
When the dough has risen, line a rectangular baking pan with some baking paper and heat the oven to 180°C, fan forced.
Take the dough out of the bowl with wet hands (the best way to handle sticky dough!). Divide the dough into two parts and place roughly half into your pan, spreading it thinly to fit your pan; it should be no more than 1cm thick. Pushing the dough to the corners and sides with your fingers if necessary.
Scatter about half of the grapes on top of the first dough layer and sprinkle half of the sugar over, with a drizzle of olive oil.
Place the rest of the dough on top to cover the grapes and gently stretch the dough over to cover the whole schiacciata — do not worry about holes or imperfections. Now, with wet fingers, push down on the surface of the dough here and there to create little ‘craters’ all over.
Cover the top with the rest of the grapes and sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until the dough becomes golden and crunchy on top and the grapes are oozing and cooked.
Allow to cool at least 10 minutes before digging in (cooling completely is best but it’s hard to resist a warm schiacciata). When ready to serve, cut into squares and if you like, dust generously with icing sugar. This is best served and eaten the day of baking, or at the most the next day.
Comments
A wonderful treat! I really have to make that someday…
Cheers,
Rosa
I actually have a pic of Jesse and his sticky purple hands on my blog 😀 I made it unhortodox back then, not with blueberries (I adore the tip, btw) but with both concord grapes and a layer of grape jam in the middle. Anyway, I still have some frozen grapes residual from sugoli, so I am still in time. A real treat, as you said, which really induce one to seize the day and just make it NOW!
That’s fantastic, what’s the link? Would love to see that pic! 🙂 Grape jam is a good idea, never thought of that!
Don’t mind my “beautiful” photography 🙂
http://www.mylifelovefood.com/2010/09/focaccia-con-uva-fragola-e-rabarbaro.html
Sticky fingers! I love it! Nice combination – concord grapes and rhubarb x
I would probably have to use grapes over here (TX) sigh…but it looks like such a wonderful breakfast treat. I would love to make this.
Can you get your hands on some good concord grapes where you are? These are what work best and they’re actually an American grape!
Hands down one of my favorite Tuscan eats EVER. I’ve never had it with powdered sugar before but yours looks so pretty AND delicious!
That’s the sweet tooth’s doing…! The powdered sugar doesn’t last long though, which is why I suspect you haven’t seen it like that – if you leave it on there for a while, it soaks into the sticky juices going on on top and disappears, leaving only a thin veil of extra sweetness!
This is such a beautiful post. I’ve only made a sweet focaccia once and it was in Italy. I think it’s something I need to make more often as your beautiful photos have given me a huge craving 🙂
Beautiful! This Schiacciata all’uva brings me back to Colle and the Chestnut festival I visited with Giulia. I loved how the stalls in the streets were full of Schiacciata all’uva, chestnut bread and wine. Isn’t it nice how food and memories are so entwined?
Good idea using the blueberries, must be better than the tasteless grapes we have here!
x
Oh yes, if your grapes are no good, then this whole recipe is pointless! You need a really tasty fruit. I love it with blueberries, but I was thinking the other day of trying it this summer with strawberries or cherries! Food memories are the best 🙂
Dear Emiko, I have printed this recipe and I am planning to make it next week when I visit my parents. They have a farm and the grapes are ready to be picked. When reading your recipe I don’t see any salt added to the dough! is that correct? I see there is no sugar either which is fine because of the grapes, the sugar on top of the grapes and powder sugar but with no salt it looks strange to me! Just wanted to check if I missed something. Thank you,
That’s wonderful – yes, you read correctly, there’s no salt in the dough, it’s very typical of Tuscan bread (you can read more about that here if you like: https://www.emikodavies.com/blog/italian-table-talk-tuscan-bread/) and this is the most traditional recipe. If you’re not to used to unsalted dough, feel free to add it if you like. If using concord grapes, which are sweet enough, a sprinkle of sugar on top is all you need, it’s not meant to be an overly sweet bread. Enjoy!
Thank Emiko, I was sure you woudn’t forget an important detail as this one. I will take a look at the link you sent. I am not familiar with bread recipes with no salt. In Portugal, where I am from, all bread that I am aware has salt, even sweet one. I love your site, it is so beautiful the way you write and the history you bring to each recipe!
Tuscan bread is quite unique! 🙂 Thanks very much, glad you enjoy the blog.
It’s in the oven now and it’s quite likely I will suffer some burns today as it looks too delicious to wait.
🙂
Ciao Emiko, I keep on looking your nice recipes!
I’d like to make this schiacciata, I love uva fragola so much!
…but I need your help, please!;) So, I’ d like to make schiacciata, just the dough the night before, and then cook in the oven the day after , should I use less yeast than 25 g?and if yes, how much do you suggest?
thank you very much!
have a nice day
If you’re using fresh yeast, you can use between 18-25 grams easily for this and not have any problems. If you’re doing this the night before, leave it to rise in the fridge in a large bowl covered with plastic wrap – it will actually be even better when it rises slower like this.
grazie Emiko, I’ll try soon!
just made focaccia today will make this in a few months when our black grapes are hanging before wasps and bees have their wicked way. I am really looking forward. with my bread today I have found a good measure is 1 cup of water = 3 cups flours adding bits more for for kneading so not so sticky, but this is a good measure and one can easily work out if one needs more
Ciao Emiko! Excited to have my first batch baking in the oven right now. I noticed on other web sites where your recipe is posted, it says to bake at 190 degrees rather than at 180 degrees which you list in your recipe on your site. Can you confirm the best temp to bake this at? Grazie mile.