Schiacciata ~ Grilled Vegetables and Cheese

What exactly is “Schiacciata” (Skee-ach-iata) you might ask?

I never knew the proper name for this bread, I just called it Stuffed Foccacia ~ (and basically that's what it is.) The word literally means flattened, smashed, crushed in Italian.

From Tuscany, Schiacciata con "l'Uva" (crushing the grapes) is the traditional flatbread stuffed and topped with grapes during autumn (grape harvest time). The one I made is a savory variation stuffed with grilled vegetables, and cheese.

Since I have been working with my whole what sourdough starter for the past few months, that is what I used for the foccacia dough.

I can tell you with almost absolute certainty that California Brie would not be found in an authentic Italian version, but the Parmesan might be. :)

The vegetables I used ~

I sauteed the shallots, and sliced the other veggies, brushed them with olive oil and grilled them off on the stovetop grill and sprinkled lightly with sea salt as they finished cooking.

I didn't use a formal recipe for my version, I just made the foccacia dough, divided it in half and rolled it out. After grilling the vegetables and allowing them to cool I layered them with the cheeses on one rolled out piece of dough, then topped with the other piece of dough and crimped the edges.

After dimpling the top of the dough with my fingertips, I brushed it with olive oil and allowed it to rise (about 45 minutes.) Just before baking it in a hot oven, I sprinkled the top lightly with sea salt. Herbes de Provence (another non-traditional touch!)

If you use whole wheat, or all purpose flour the dough will rise much higher than this whole wheat sourdough version. (In order to reach maximum rise, sourdough (without yeast) requires a much longer rising time ~ but that wasn't practical considering it was stuffed with the grilled veggies, so I just allowed it to rise for about 45 minutes.)

It was very good ~ served warm or at room temperature. I shaped this one into a rectangle, but you can also roll the dough into rounds ~ it makes little difference.

If you would like a printable recipe for Schiacciata (or stuffed foccacia), you can find a good one HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today!