Italian Schiacciata

Bread and Pizza

From Tuscany, a soft and tasty pizza to accompany with Salami and Cheese! Originally it was prepared with the bread dough with salt to make it tastier.

My recipe is prepared using a Biga, a pre-fermented dough that will make the schiacciata more digestible and enhance its aromatic note! You can also season it as you like with cherry tomatoes and basil, onions and sage (I love it), or even thinly sliced potatoes!

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Preparation: 30

Cooking: 30

Rising Time: 21 30

Total Time: 22 30

Servings: 15 People

Equipments

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Stand Mixer
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Baking Pan

Ingredients

For the Biga

1 kg Bread Flour (W280 - 320)
440 gr Water at 16°C (60°F)
10 gr Fresh Yeast (or 2gr if you use dry yeast)

For the Dough

1000 gr Biga
250 gr Bread Flour (i like stone milled flour)
400 gr Water
40 gr Salt
40 gr Olive Oil
5 gr Malt Powder
1 gr Fresh Yeast

Directions

For the Biga

To prepare a good biga that have the right final temperature (around 20°C or 68°F), I recommend using water at the temperature given by this "empirical" formula:
Water temperature = 55 - room temperature - flour temperature.
In average conditions, the right temperature of the water is 55 - 20 - 19= 16°C
!! This formula only works with °C !!
Form a rough dough and let it ferment for 18h at 19°C-20°C (66°F - 68°F).

For the Dough

Mix the flour, biga, malt, yeast, and a first part of the water into the stand mixer bowl.
Halfway through the process, add the salt dissolved in the remaining water, working the dough until it is well-kneaded and elastic. Finally, finish with the olive oil, adding in many times.
Move the dough onto the table, form a loaf, and grease the surface with olive oil.
Let the dough ferment at 26°C - 28°C (79°F - 82°F) for 2 hours (approximately), until it will double its volume.
Move the dough onto the work surface and divide it into desired portions. Let each portion rise on a floured table, placing them cut side up for 45min.
After this time, arrange the dough in a well-greased iron baking pan and stretch it with your fingers until covering the whole pan surface.
Wet the surface with an emulsion of salt, oil, and water and add to taste some rosemary leaves all over the surface.
Let rise for about 30min and bake.
Bake at 220-230°C (428°F - 446°F) for about 30 minutes, slightly opening the oven door during the last 5 minutes of cooking.