MAKES 2 COCAS, ABOUT 5 BY 13 INCHES/13 BY 33 CM
“The trick is to bake cocas hot and fast, or else they get drier than the feet of a saint.” So began the advice of a baker named Carles Paricio—when I first met him, he was studying philosophy during the day and making bread at night—from Manlleu, a village in the foothills of the Pyrenees. This version is adapted from Carles’s recipe and method of baking a single base and slicing it in half to make two open-faced cocas.
Coca can be either sweet or savory. Coca de recapte is the most popular savory version. In Catalan, recapte can loosely be translated as “provisions,” and the topping can include a wide range of ingredients. Most typically it has roasted vegetables, herring or anchovies, and even some fresh pork sausage. (Recalling that Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia were medieval Catalan colonies, some have argued that coca is an ancient, older form of pizza, and that it was taken to Italy by merchants.)
1. In a large bowl, form a well with the flour and add the salt. Dissolve the yeast in ½> cup/120 ml warm water. In the middle of the well, add in the yeast. Mix, working in the flour from the center outward, until it forms a moist, sticky ball. Let sit for 5 minutes. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for about 10 minutes, until the dough is supple and elastic and still slightly sticky. (Or use a bread hook and stand mixer.)
2. Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature until it has doubled in size, 1 to 1½> hours.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
4. Transfer the dough to a work surface and form it into an oblong roll with your hands. Transfer to the sheet.
5. Working the dough as little as possible, gently stretch and press it out with your fingertips into an oval about ¾ inch/2 cm thick, 12 to 14 inches/30.5 to 35.5 cm long, and 5 to 6 inches/12 to 15 cm wide. Gently dimple it with your fingertips. Lightly brush with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 minutes to rise again.
6. Preheat the broiler. Brush the bell peppers with olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet. Broil until charred in places, turning as needed with tongs, about 40 minutes. Immediately place them in a paper or plastic bag to cool and steam the skin to loosen before peeling. Once cool enough to handle, peel and strip. Working over a bowl to catch the juices, peel away the skin of the peppers, seed, and tear them into long, lengthwise strips ½> to 1 inch/1.25 to 2.5 cm wide.
7. Preheat the oven to 450°F/230°C/gas mark 8.
8. Remove the plastic from the dough and brush again with oil. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden. Watch carefully during the final minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.
9. Once cool, slice the bread flat through the middle to get two open-faced cocas.
10. Brush the soft, cut base with oil, lightly sprinkle with salt, and then lay on the roasted peppers. Crisscross the anchovy fillets over the top, and place olives decoratively around.
11. Place the cocas into a hot oven for a couple of minutes until warm. Serve warm or at room temperature.
NOTE: The roasted and peeled red bell peppers will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for two days; the coca can easily be made half a day in advance. Do not slice it in half until ready to cover with the ingredients and serve.