Schiacciata all'uva

UPDATE - Oct. 7, 2024 - The original post used small Corinth grapes, but this time, I found black seedless grapes that were large, and the flavor was much better. The larger grapes have a much jammier taste to them. Seek them out if you can. I also changed the dough recipe to my normal focaccia recipe and I liked it much better too. The sugar I used was granulated brown sugar (not the brown sugar that you buy in grocery stores, but a specialty sugar I bought in New Orleans.) It tasted great but the color on the schiacciata was dark and almost looked burnt. Next time I would use ordinary granulated sugar.

Here's a photo of the updated schiacciata before it went into the oven:

And what it looked like after it came out. It disappeared in a flash.

Now take a look at the old blog post. This schiacciata was good, but nowhere near as delicious as the revised recipe below.

Now that wine grapes are in season, don't miss this chance to make schiacciata con l'uva, which literally means a squashed thing with grapes. It's a dish from Tuscany, and is more or less a focaccia, topped with grapes, rosemary, olive oil and a bit of sugar.

I love it as a snack, with a glass of wine before dinner, or as breakfast. Don't try to use those green or pale purple grapes you regularly see at the supermarket. They just don't have the jammy, intense flavor of concord grapes, or these tiny grapes I used, called black corinth seedless grapes.

These black corinth grapes are so delicious to eat out of hand. But the caveat is that since they're so small, it takes much longer to strip them from the stems.

The aroma in your house is fabulous and when it's finished, you won't be able to resist cutting into it.

By the way, as with leftover pizza, the best way to reheat is by placing slices in a cast iron skillet for a couple of minutes. The bottom stays crisp, and if you put the lid on top, the heat will permeate throughout. Caveat: The recipe makes a lot, and it dries out if you keep it for more than a couple of days, so make sure you have a lot of friends or family to help eat the schiacciata, or pass it around to your neighbors, as we did.

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Schiacciata con l'uva - Focaccia With Grapes

Ingredients:

For The Dough:

• 1 ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.)
• 2 tsp. honey
• 4 cups (625 g) all-purpose flour (start with 3 cups and add more as needed)
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 6 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for hands
• a couple of bunches of large, black, seedless grapes
• olive oil to grease the pan
• fresh rosemary, minced
• a few tablespoons of white granulated sugar to sprinkle on top
• 2 1/2 cups warm water (around 105-110 F.)

1. Whisk one ¼-oz. envelope active dry yeast (about 2¼ tsp.), 2 tsp. honey, and 2½ cups lukewarm water in a medium bowl and let sit 5 minutes (it should foam or at least get creamy; if it doesn’t your yeast is dead and you should start again—check the expiration date!).
2. Start adding the flour and salt, but add only three cups flour at first and mix. Add more flour if needed. What you want is a shaggy dough with no dry streaks of flour.
3. Pour 4 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into a big bowl that will fit in your refrigerator.
4. Transfer dough to bowl and turn to coat in oil. It helps to use a silicone spatula to do this.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator overnight until dough is doubled in size (it should look very bubbly and alive). The next morning, let the dough sit at room temperature for a couple of hours to rise further.
6. Generously oil a 12" x 16" cookie sheet. 
7. Dump the dough into the center of the prepared pan.
8. If you try to stretch it out right away to the corners of the pan, it will be difficult.
9. Wait fifteen minutes to a half hour, then stretch out the dough. It will be much easier.
10. Pour any oil left from the bowl onto the dough.
11. Press the grapes into the dough.
12. Let the dough rise a second time, uncovered in the baking sheet, in a dry, warm spot until doubled in size, at least 1½ hours and up to 4 hours.
13. Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 425°.
14. Sprinkle the grapes with granulated sugar and minced rosemary
15. Bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.