Scaccia ragusana
Scaccia is a speciality of Ragusa in southern Sicily, traditionally linked with the Christmas season but now sold in bakeries all year. It is very thinly rolled semolina dough spread with tomato sauce and caciocavallo cheese, then folded several times like a letter into a many-layered rectangle. Once baked, a slice shows thin layers of dough interleaved with filling. It is eaten warm or at room temperature, cut into strips, as a snack or light lunch.
Your own work in that: 40 min.
- Dough 15 min
- Rising (make the sauce meanwhile) 90 min
- Folding 25 min
- Baking 40 min
- Cooling 15 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneKnead the dough
Mix the semolina with the yeast, add the water, oil and salt and knead 10 minutes until smooth, elastic and silky.
Ingredients: 500 g fine durum wheat semolina (semola rimacinata) · 300 ml lukewarm water · 5 g dried yeast · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp olive oil
Leave to rise
Shape into a ball, cover and leave somewhere warm for 90 minutes, until doubled.
Ingredients: 500 g fine durum wheat semolina (semola rimacinata) · 300 ml lukewarm water · 5 g dried yeast · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp olive oil
Cook the sauce
While the dough rises, fry the finely chopped onion in the oil for 5 minutes, add the passata, add a pinch of salt and simmer uncovered 15–20 minutes until thick (about 250 g will remain). Add the torn basil and cool — hot sauce would soak the dough.
Ingredients: 400 g tomato passata · 2 tbsp olive oil for the sauce · ½ pcs onion · 10 pcs basil leaves · 1 pinch salt for the sauce · 200 g caciocavallo or mature provolone, grated · 1 tbsp olive oil for brushing
Roll out
Heat the oven to 200°C. Divide the dough in two. Roll each piece very thinly on a semolina-dusted surface into a rectangle of about 40 × 50 cm, about 2 mm thick.
Ingredients: 500 g fine durum wheat semolina (semola rimacinata) · 300 ml lukewarm water · 5 g dried yeast · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp olive oil
About 2 mm — the thinner, the clearer the layers.Spread the filling
Divide the sauce and cheese into 6 equal portions — each scaccia gets three. Spread one portion of sauce over the middle third of the rectangle (a strip along the long side) and scatter with one portion of cheese.
Ingredients: 400 g tomato passata · 2 tbsp olive oil for the sauce · ½ pcs onion · 10 pcs basil leaves · 1 pinch salt for the sauce · 200 g caciocavallo or mature provolone, grated · 1 tbsp olive oil for brushing
Fold like a letter
Fold one long side over the filling, spread it with the second portion of sauce and cheese and cover with the other long side — you get a strip of about 13 × 50 cm. Spread the third portion of sauce and cheese on top, leaving 2 cm clear at the ends, and fold both short ends in to meet in the middle. You get a rectangle of about 13 × 25 cm with six layers of dough. Pinch the edges and repeat with the second piece.
Ingredients: 400 g tomato passata · 2 tbsp olive oil for the sauce · ½ pcs onion · 10 pcs basil leaves · 1 pinch salt for the sauce · 200 g caciocavallo or mature provolone, grated · 1 tbsp olive oil for brushing
Fold like a letter — layer upon layer.Bake
Turn the scacce seam down onto a lined tray, prick the tops with a fork and brush with oil. Bake 35–40 minutes until golden and crisp at the edges.
Ingredients: 400 g tomato passata · 2 tbsp olive oil for the sauce · ½ pcs onion · 10 pcs basil leaves · 1 pinch salt for the sauce · 200 g caciocavallo or mature provolone, grated · 1 tbsp olive oil for brushing
Cool and slice
Leave 15 minutes for the cheese to set, then cut into 4 cm strips.
Ingredients: 500 g fine durum wheat semolina (semola rimacinata) · 300 ml lukewarm water · 5 g dried yeast · 11 g salt · 2 tbsp olive oil
The layers show in the slice — that is the art.
Before you start
Caciocavallo
Caciocavallo ragusano (PDO) is a Sicilian cow’s milk cheese aged in rectangular blocks, full-flavoured and a good melter. It is hard to find abroad — Italian delicatessens more often stock ordinary pear-shaped caciocavallo, which works too. Mature provolone (piccante) is the easiest substitute.
Other fillings
Ragusa also makes scaccia with aubergine, with ricotta and sausage, or with just onion. The filling must be thick and cold so it does not soak the thin dough.
Storage
With cheese it keeps 3 days in the fridge. Reheat at 180°C for 10 minutes. It freezes in pieces for 2 months.
