Schiacciata alla Fiorentina

These cold and bleak January days don’t give us much to look forward to but for me towards the end of the month in the pastry shops of Florence, you will start to find the Schiacciata Fiorentina, a light fragrant sponge dessert, which is representative of the city of Florence during the carnival period.

In Italian, ‘schiacciata’ means “crushed”. The origin of the name comes from the fact that eggs need to be crushed (beaten) to prepare it. This dessert was formerly known as ‘schiacciata unta’ (crushed fat) given the use of lard.

In the Autumn months, we can also find the Schiacciata Uva which is very similar but filled with the small grapes used in winemaking.

You can find the schiacciata in two versions, ‘vuota’ (plain) or ‘farcita’ (filled) with custard, mascarpone cream, whipped cream or ricotta cream.

Below I have included a recipe which we use here at Finiisterrae.

There are many different recipes but I love this one as it still follows the traditional methods.

Hope to see you soon.

Ingredients

·         400 gr flour (type 0)

·         100 gr sugar

·         2 eggs

·         80 gr lard

·         1 large organic orange and zest (grated)

·         1 vanilla bean, cut lengthwise and seeds scraped

·         12 gr fresh beer yeast

To decorate:

·         Icing sugar

·         Cocoa powder

Preparation and cooking

Dissolve the fresh yeast in just over half a glass of water and let it rest for 10 minutes so that it starts to become active.

Mix the flour (type 0) with the yeast and orange juice, if necessary, add a little water. Let the dough rest for 2 hours at room temperature, covered with a cloth.

Once the dough has rested, add the lard, sugar, vanilla, grated orange zest and a pinch of salt to the dough.

When the dough has absorbed all the ingredients, incorporate the egg yolks, one at a time. Finally, beat the egg whites until stiff and add these to the dough. Work the dough vigorously, for at least 10 minutes, so that it incorporates air.

Let the dough rest for an hour at room temperature, covered with a cloth.

Grease a 30 × 22 cm pan with lard (or line with parchment paper) and pour the dough into it, crushing it with the fingertips so as to distribute it evenly.

Cover with a cloth Let the schiacciata rise until doubled in volume (it will take about 2 hours).

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 ° C for about 30 minutes until golden. Then take the Schiacciata out of the oven and let it cool before decorating it.

To decorate the Florentine schiacciata, you can simply sprinkle it with icing sugar.

In Florence however, we decorate by adding the symbol of Florence (GIGLIO) with a stencil and cocoa powder.

The schiacciata can be eaten as it is or cut in half lengthwise and filled with whipped cream or custard.