Introduction
This sweetened bread — schiacciata con l’uva — is traditionally made in Tuscany during the grape harvest. Feel free to reduce the sugar by a third if your grapes are especially sweet, or you simply prefer a less sweet bread.
Ingredients
Fruit
| 2 | lb. seedless grapes, stemmed and washed |
| ½ | cup white sugar |
| ¼ | cup brown sugar |
| ¾ | cup golden raisins |
| 1 | cup boiling water |
Sponge
| 1¾ | cups warm water (100 to 110 degrees) |
| 1 | Tbsp. active yeast |
| 1 | cup all-purpose flour |
| 1 | cup whole-wheat bread flour |
Bread
| ¼ | cup extra-virgin olive oil |
| 1 | tsp. salt |
| 2 | cups all-purpose flour |
| 1 | cup whole-wheat bread flour |
Steps
- Toss the grapes in a large bowl with the white and brown sugars, then set aside.
- Place golden raisins in a small bowl and cover with boiling water, then set aside.
- Prepare sponge: Place warm water in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over water and stir to dissolve. Stir in all-purpose and whole-wheat flours until well blended. Cover bowl with a clean dish towel and let sponge rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
- Finish the dough: Stir oil into sponge until well-blended. Add salt and remaining flour to sponge, ½ cup at a time, using a wooden spoon to stir at first. As dough comes together, turn it out onto a flour board and knead in remaining flour. Knead dough for 2 minutes. It should be a bit sticky, but easily pull away from board.
- Oil two 12-inch pizza pans or baking sheets with olive oil and set aside. Drain raisins. Stir grapes.
- Cut dough into four equal-sized pieces. Place one piece on a lightly floured board and roll into a 9-inch round or 8x10 rectangle. Place on one of the oiled pans. Cover dough with ½ pound of sugared grapes. Roll out another piece of dough into the same size and place on top of grape-covered dough, sealing edges together. Arrange ½ pound of sugared grapes on top.
- Repeat process with remaining dough, grapes, and oiled pan, but add half of the raisins to each layer of dough.
- Cover each loaf with a clean dish towel and let breads rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Place a pan of bread on each rack, staggering the pans so that one is not directly over the other. Bake bread for 50 minutes, switching pans halfway through.
- Remove from oven and let bread cool completely in pans.
Related
article:
Grape expectations
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There are 3 comments on this item
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33% recommend this recipe
1. by KRISTEN KEANE on Sep 24, 2009 at 8:47 AM PDT
Step 4 looks to be an accidental prepeat of a more aptly placed Step 6. Should Step 4 just be dropped and the following steps renumbered or is there a rising that should go in its place?
I am only at Step 2. Stat tuned to see how it turns out.
2. by Kim on Sep 24, 2009 at 8:23 PM PDT
You’re right, Kristen — an extra step was added inadvertently; we’ve corrected it now. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
3. by KRISTEN KEANE on Nov 18, 2009 at 6:59 AM PST
Made this and it was a success. Came together well and kept well for the next day. I will make this again when we have company staying over. When sliced open it looks great. It was just right for breakfast.
Did have a little trouble with the sugar from the grapes on top running off and caramelizing on the bottom of the pan.
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