RECIPE NOTES

A Note on Technique

You can easily make this dough by hand if you (a) prefer to and/or (b) don’t have a stand mixer. Simply combine the dough using a wooden spoon, and instead of letting the mixer knead the dough, knead it by hand on a floured surface, working hard to continually fold the dough over onto itself until it is smooth and elastic, at least 10 minutes.

The Infinite Variety of Schiacciata Dough

This dough is so versatile. I like to think of it as a blank canvas with endless possibilities. Its flexibility especially appeals to me because I always bake with my shirttail untucked, so to speak. Sometimes I spread the dough into a round, slash it a few times, dock it with olive oil, sprinkle it with chopped thyme, torn black olives, and salt, and place it into a hot oven. Other times I cut an orange into paper-thin slices, fan them over the dough, sprinkle them with fresh rosemary and red chili flakes, and then give the whole thing a drizzle of honey. Roasted grapes or shards of fall apples are wonderful too. See below for instructions on how to prepare more of my favorite variations.

SCHIACCIATA BIANCA

For the simplest Schiacciata Bianca, coat a half sheet pan with a generous pour of olive oil (about ¼ cup) and press the dough into the pan. The dough will be a bit stubborn when you first put it into the pan. Let it rest for about 20 minutes and then even it out with your fingertips. That final resting does wonders, and your patience will be rewarded. Drizzle a little bit more olive oil on top of the dough, and sprinkle with coarse salt and a few fresh rosemary leaves. Dimple the surface with your fingertips and send it into a 475°F oven until browned, about 20 minutes.

SCHIACCIATA OCCHIO DI BUE

Occhio di bue, “bull’s eye,” refers to the glorious egg that’s cracked into the center of the partially cooked schiacciata and emerges with a runny yolk. Some of my other favorite toppings include a mixture of Gorgonzola cheese and pears, figs with prosciutto, and cèpes (porcini mushrooms) with walnuts. You can’t go wrong, really.

For two occhio di bue, divide a batch of rested schiacciata dough in half. Using your hands and gravity, pull and stretch one half of the dough to form a pizza (don’t worry about making it a perfect circle). At this point, if you have a grill or a grill pan, get it nice and hot and mark the pizza on either side. If you don’t have a grill or a grill pan, place the shaped pizza dough onto an oiled sheet pan and send it into a 475°F oven until just barely beginning to brown, 5 to 10 minutes.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the parcooked pizza, and grate a thin layer of Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top. Crack an egg in the middle and return the pizza to the oven. Bake until the egg is set and the crust is nicely browned, about 10 minutes. Remove it from the oven, grate a little bit more cheese over the top, and scatter a handful of arugula over the cheese. Drape some prosciutto over the pizza and serve it immediately. Repeat the process with the other half of the dough because (a) you have it and (b) one is never enough!

My Most Memorable Pizza

When I went to Italy for the first time, it blew my mind that pizza came topped with things like potatoes, figs and prosciutto, squash blossoms and anchovies, and eggs and arugula. I found this attention to seasonality and to adorning pizza with unexpected-but-welcome ingredients to be completely inspiring. Pizza dough is, after all, a blank slate full of creative potential.

On Learning How to Make Pizza

When you learn to make pizza in Italy, they don’t want to waste precious dough, so they give you a damp towel to practice with—you toss it in the air to get a feel for it, to understand its literal gravity.

TARTE FLAMBÉE

Literally translated to “pie baked in the flames,” tarte flambée, a classic Alsatian dish, is the most decidedly French way to treat the schiacciata dough. Basically a bacon-and-onion pizza with crème fraîche, you can cut the tarte flambée into bite-size pieces and serve it as a hors d’oeuvre with cocktails, or slice it into large wedges, accompany it with a salad, and call it lunch.

Generously coat a half sheet pan with olive oil and stretch and pull a batch of dough so that it fills the pan. Using your fingers, press the dough so that it forms a bit of a lip around all of the edges and the center is thinner. This will guarantee that once you load it with the onion mixture, the underside will cook through, plus it will give you a beautiful crust along the sides. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the surface of the dough and rub it around with your fingers so that the whole thing has a nice sheen. Cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for at least 20 minutes while you prepare the onions.

Meanwhile, set a large skillet over high heat and, once it gets hot, add ½ pound of sliced bacon that you’ve cut into ½-inch-thick pieces to the pan. It should immediately smell incredible. Cook, stirring a bit, until the bacon starts to render its fat, 2 or 3 minutes. Add 2 sliced yellow onions to the pan, reduce the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and a little bit brown and the bacon is a tiny bit crisp, about 20 minutes. Season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper and set it aside.

Meanwhile, whisk together ½ cup of crème fraîche and ½ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg and season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper. Set it aside.

Uncover the dough and evenly spread the crème fraîche mixture over the middle of the dough, leaving the outer, higher edges bare. Pile the onion and bacon mixture on top of the crème fraîche.

Bake the tarte flambée in a 375°F oven until the crust is nicely browned and the onions have taken on more color and are tempting and crispy. Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting and eating. Serve warm or at room temperature.

FRUIT FOCACCIA

Cover 2 cups of whatever dried fruit you’d like with hot water and let it sit until it’s at room temperature. Drain the fruit, reserving both the fruit and the soaking liquid. Prepare the Schiacciata Dough per the instructions, measuring 1½ cups of the soaking liquid and using it instead of the water called for in the recipe. This liquid will both sweeten and color the dough. Once the dough has formed, knead the softened dried fruit into the dough, place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover it with a tea towel, and let it rest and rise, about 1 hour.

Bake on a sheet pan, and serve squares of it alongside cheese. Alternatively, the focaccia can be cut into long slices and toasted, which yields slightly sweet, fruit-laden crackers. These are especially useful as a vehicle for Roquefort beurre composé (here).