The traditional Tuscan Schiacciata di Pasqua
We know it as Ciaccia: one of the most loved recipes for Easter and Easter Monday
In Siena it is ciaccino, in Florence it is schiacciata, but there is one word they have in common: it is the Easter ciaccia. A word that smells of Easter and spring, a word that reminds us of our grandparents and the countryside.
Easter schiacciata is a typical Easter preparation of Tuscany, a leavened dough that needs time to be prepared: in fact it will need to make five doughs, but it is not difficult to prepare. First of all it will be necessary to prepare the "biga", that is the lievitino, and then proceed with the different phases of preparation.
The dough is then enriched with aniseed seeds and liqueurs and baked in molds for panettone: the result is a sweet cake with an aromatic flavor to be eaten for Easter breakfast or Easter Monday picnic, to be filled with hard-boiled egg, cheese and cracklings or to be eaten with cold cuts, first of all capocollo.
DOSE FOR 3 CIACCE
FLOUR TYPE 00
1,5 Kg
BREWER YEAST
50 gr
MILK
150 ml
EGGS
7
SUGAR
450 gr
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
100 gr
BUTTER
50 gr
ROSOLIO OF MINT
50 ml
MARASCHINO
50 ml
ORANGE BLOSSOM AROMA
1 vial
ANISE SEEDS
15 gr
ALBUMS
1
How to prepare the Tuscan schiacciata
First you need to prepare the first dough, the biga or lievitino. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and gradually add 300 gr of sifted flour. Even though the dough will be sticky, form it into a ball, cover it with a little bit of flour and let it rest in a warm place for at least 2 hours or until it will start growing.
For the second dough, add to the first dough 3 eggs at room temperature, 150 grams of sugar, 40 grams of oil, 400 grams of flour, and mix well all the ingredients. Let it rest covered with a cotton cloth for another 3 hours in a warm place without drafts: it should double in volume.
For the third dough, add 2 eggs, 150 g sugar, 40 g oil, 400 g flour, 25 ml rosolio, 25 ml maraschino and orange flavor. Mix the ingredients well, form again a ball and let it rest for 3 hours.
To make the fourth dough, add 2 more eggs, 150 g of sugar, 30 g of oil and 400 g of flour, as well as 50 g of melted butter, the aniseed seeds, 25 ml of rosolio and 25 ml of maraschino.
Let it rest for another 3 hours in a warm place until it doubles in volume.
Finally, for the fifth dough, knead it again, divide it into 3 equal parts and place it in 3 panettone molds. At this point let it rise for the last time in a warm place for about 5 hours.
Heat the oven to 180 degrees, brush the flattened with beaten egg white and bake. Bake for about 50 minutes, until nicely colored and dry. Once ready let them rest in the oven for a few minutes and then let them cool completely. Your Easter schiacciate are ready to be served.
Tips
You can also prepare the biga the day before and let it rise overnight. You can also soak the anise seeds with a small glass of rosolio, or sambuca, the day before preparation.
Instead of maraschino, you can also use marsala, sambuca or Strega liqueur, and you can also replace the orange flavor with orange juice or grated orange peel.
How to preserve the schiacciata di Pasqua
You can store the schacciata di Pasqua for 4-5 days inside a tightly closed plastic food bag.
