Easy Italian Recipes

 I was taught how to make focaccia by a Tuscan baker. He told me to tuck the flavourings into bed and pull the duvet over them!l He explained that if you leave sprigs of rosemary sticking up they burn and do not offer any flavour to the bread, so push them in and partially cover them in dough.

Serves 10

500g strongr or '00' flour
2 level teaspoons salt
15g fresh yeast or dried equivalent (usually half the amount of fresh; follow packet instructions)
300ml tepid water
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil white plain flour, for dusting
rock salt, for sprinkling prior to baking
1 large sprig of rosemary
OTHER TOPPING IDEAS
thyme, olives, red onion slices

Mix the flour and the salt together in a large mixing bowl. Blend the yeast into the water with your fingers until no lumps remain. Add the yeasted liquid and 21/2 tablespoon of the oil to the flour and mix well using a plastic dough scraper or your hand. When the liquid is incorporated, bring all the ingredients together into a ball of dough with your hand. Use the dough to pick up the bits from the sides of the bowl so that you leave the bowl clean.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead it by pulling, stretching and folding for around 10 minutes. The dough should be soft, but if really sticky add a little more flour. When the dough is worked enough it should bounce back to the touch and feel elastic; if not, keep kneading.

Fold the edges of the dough underneath so that you have a smooth rounded ball. The top side will be the surface of the focaccia. Grease the bowl with some of the remaining oil to prevent the dough from sticking to it. Put the smooth, top side of the dough head-first into the oiled bowl and turn to coat the top and sides with oil. (This will prevent a crust from forming and stop it sticking.) Cover with clingfilm or place a tea-towel over the bowl and leave it in a warm, draught-free spot for about an hour, or until it has doubled in volume.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Next slide the dough onto an oiled baking tray or roasting tin. Gently ease it out from underneath, trying to keep a good rounded edge. Then use your fingertips to 'make indentations in the dough, flattening it into an oval about 3cm thick. Add your choice of toppings and drizzle over a litle oil, but no salt yet. Break sprigs of rosemary or thyme off the main stem and tuck into the dough; press olives and onion rings into the dough to stop them burning.

Return the dough to rise in its warm place until it is about half as high again, 30-40 minutes. When it has risen, use your fingertips gently to press more indentations into the dough, drizzle with the remaining oil and sprinkle with the rock salt. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. If the bottom is not cooked, turn the focaccia over and bake for a further 5 minutes. Allow to cool in a basket or on a wire rack so that it cannot sweat underneath.

Buon appetito!

This is a completely different way of making bread, with a very wet dough. I learnt to make this in Puglia from a couple of women who lived near Bari. They taught me to make my hand into the shape of a duck's foot, as if I had a webbed hand. 'Flap, flap, flap', they told me until sweat formed on my brow; I was only allowed to stop flapping when bubbles appeared on the surface of the dough.

Serves 10

1 medium potato (about 150g), peeled and roughly chopped
500g strong white bread flour or '00' flour
1 level teaspoon salt
500ml tepid water (use the potato cooking water)
25g fresh yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for greasing

FOR THE TOPPING
olives, oregano, cherry tomatoes, etc.

This is usually made in a large, thin circular tin about 28cm across and 5cm deep, but I have also made it successfully in a thin, rectangular roasting tin. First cut a circle of baking parchment to line the base.
Put a small saucepan of water on to boil and put the potato in to cook. Meanwhile, mix the flour and the salt together in a large mixing bowl. Once the potato is cooked, drain but reserve the a measuring jug and top it up to 500m1, keeping the temperature of the water tepid.
Mix the yeast and sugar into this water with your fingers until it is completely blended and no lumps remain. Put the warm potato through a ricer, or mash with a fork, and add to the flour mixture. Add the tepid water and, making your hand into the shape of a webbed foot, hit the dough and pull it up one side of the bowl. The higher you pull the dough, the more air will be incorporated and the quicker this form of kneading will be. Use the other hand to hold the bowl steady against your stomach. If necessary, add a little more tepid water from the tap to obtain a dough with the consistency of wet porridge.

Repeat this motion, picking up speed as you go. It becomes tiring, but you will see the air getting trapped in the dough. Stop to rest every few minutes and watch the dough. Once you see bubbles rise to the surface and pop it is ready.
Pour half the oil into the lined tin and ensure it is greased generously all over. Pour the focaccia dough into the tin and pat the rest of the oil over the surface of the dough with your fingers so that it is covered in oil. This prevents a crust from forming while it rises. Leave to rise in a warm, draught-free spot for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the surface is covered in bubbles.
Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Once the dough is risen, add your chosen topping. Place the tin in the oven and bake for around 50-60 minutes, or until the bread is crispy and golden brown. Buon appetito!

In the Tuscan town of Consuma, the local speciality is a shallow focaccia named schiacciata, meaning 'squashed', which can be filled with various ingredients: sweet grapes and sugar, porcini mushrooms, prosciutto cotto and cheese, and many more besides. About three different bakeries in the town make schiacciata every day and people travel from miles around to eat them. This is my favourite type, made with a sweet dough. 

Serves 10

500g strong white flour
a pinch of salt
125g caster sugar 50g butter, softened 15g yeast
200ml tepid water
1 egg, plus 1 egg beaten for the glaze
20m1 olive oil
250g plum or dark fruit jam
400g seedless red grapes
50ml water

Mix the flour, salt and 50g of the sugar in a large bowl, and rub in the butter. Blend the yeast into the tepid water with your fingers until no lumps remain. Add the yeasted liquid and 1 egg to the flour and mix using a plastic dough scraper or your hand. When incorporated, bring the ingredients into a ball with your hand. Use it to pick up bits from the sides, leaving the bowl clean.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it by pulling, stretching and folding for around 10 minutes. The dough should be soft, but if really sticky add a little more flour. When the dough is worked enough it should bounce back to the touch and feel elastic; if not, keep kneading.

Fold the edges of the dough underneath to make a smooth, rounded ball. The top side is the surface of the focaccia. Grease the bowl with the olive oil to prevent the dough sticking. Put the smooth top of the dough headfirst into the oiled bowl and turn to coat the top and sides with oil. Cover with clingfilm or place a tea-towel over the bowl and leave in a warm, draught-free spot for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll it out to about 5cm thick. Spread the jam over half of the rectangle, fold the dough over and push it down with your fingertips, starting in the centre and working outwards. Push the grapes into the top, then brush twice with the beaten egg. Scatter over 25g of the remaining sugar and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Meanwhile make a sugar syrup by boiling the remaining sugar and water together for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush over the syrup.

Buon appetito!

This is a soft flatbread from Romagna in the north of Italy. It is usually made with white flour, lard (or olive oil), salt and water. The dough was traditionally cooked on a terracotta dish (called a teggia in the local dialect), although today flat pans
or electric griddles are commonly used. You can use a non-stick, heavy-based frying pan, although the heat on my induction hob is so fierce that I have frequently burnt pans in the process, so I now use the oven to make piadine, which are very popular with my family for a quick lunch. Piadine are usually eaten as soon as they are cooked, although the dough can be prepared in advance. They are often sold at specialist kiosks, or piadinerle. The choice of fillings is endless, but they are frequently served with a wonderfully named soft white, squelchy cheese called squacquerone, and with Swiss chard or spinach. Alternative fillings include stracchino, Taleggio or mozzarella, Parma ham and rocket.

Makes 6 Piadina

500g plain flour or '00' flour
10g salt
150g lard, at room temperature
200ml water
2g bicarbonate of soda

Preheat the oven to its highest setting - somewhere between 280°C and 300°C is ideal. Put two oven trays upside down in the oven if you can (so that you can quickly slide the piadine onto them), or use two baking trays.
Sift the flour and the salt together in a mixing bowl, add the butter and the water to the dough. Mix together with your hands until you have a soft, pliable dough that you will be able to roll out. Be prepared to add a little more flour or water if necessary. Leave to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Turn out the rested dough onto a floured work surface and divide it into six balls. Roll them out into circles no more than 5mm thick. Put them onto another upturned, floured baking tray and then slide into the hot oven for 2-4 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly browned. If you are using a frying pan, allow 2-3 minutes on each side.
When done, spread your chosen filling over half the surface and fold the other half over the top. If they pull up, slide a knife around the edge and fill without folding. Eat straight away.

Making Piadina: gallery

Resembling a savoury panettone, crescia takes various forms around Le Marche, Umbria and even Tuscany. It can be cooked in a terracotta flowerpot or madeas flat discs and eaten topped with prosciutto. Crescia always contains cheese, either Parmesan, pecorino or both.
It is particularly popular at Easter, when the shops around Lesi in Le Marche are full of them — and the aroma of melting cheese. This version comes from Chef, former owner of The Walnut Tree Inn in Abergavenny, Wales, whose family are Marchegiani. He forms the dough into plaits and cooks them in brioche tins or 6cm x 6cm dariole moulds, but if you don't have these, try using similar-sized terracotta flowerpots lined with baking parchment. Otherwise, bake as four larger loaves in charlotte tins. This bread freezes well.

Makes 16 brioche tins or 4 in charlotte tins
500-550g strong white flour or '00' flour 150g freshly grated pecorino
100g freshly grated Parmesan
1Og salt
5g black pepper
100m1 olive oil
100m1 warm water
50g fresh yeast
5 eggs, beaten
butter, for greasing
150g young pecorino, cubed

Put 500g of the flour, the grated cheeses and salt and pepper into a large bowl. Add the oil and water to the yeast and mix until creamed, then add to the flour, followed by the beaten eggs. Form the mixture into a dough, if necessary adding a little more flour (this depends on the size of the eggs). Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes. Leave the dough in an oiled bowl, covered with a cloth, in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, up to 1 hour. Meanwhile butter the moulds or tins generously or line the flowerpots with baking parchment.

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F/gas mark 3. Cut the dough into four. Fold one quarter of the cubed pecorino into each lump, allowing it to poke out slightly. If making loaves, follow the loaf-shaping masterclass on page 48 and put the loaves in the charlotte tins seam-down. If using dariole moulds or flowerpots, divide each portion in four again and make 16 small rolls using the same method. Put the balls in the moulds or tins. Cover with a tea-towel and leave to prove until doubled in size. Bake for 35-40 minutes, the rolls for 20 minutes. Unmould and cool on a rack.

These beautiful, freshly made panini are filled with the glorious colours and flavours of Sicily. My Sicilian friends use their local fresh sheep's cheese called primo sale because its mild flavour complements the salty anchovies - but mozzarella does just as well. Although pane con sarde means 'bread with sardines', this recipe has salted anchovies because my friends prefer their sharper taste. Sicilians from the east of the island use pane nero, a dark loaf similar to crusty wholemeal or rye bread. A white loaf with sesame seeds works really well, too, provided the loaf is well cooked; we have a habit of undercooking bread in the UK, which means we end up with soggy sandwiches. If in doubt, use a loaf of sourdough bread instead.

Serves 4
4 anchovy fillets in salt or oil, or 2 tinned sardines
1 loaf of white crusty bread with sesame seeds or 1 wholemeal loaf a good pinch of salt and pepper
30ml olive oil
2 ripe tomatoes, ends discarded, thinly sliced
10 green olives, stoned and torn roughly
1 x 125g ball of mozzarella
a small handful of basil leaves, washed and roughly chopped

Prepare the fish by removing any obvious bones and rinsing them if they are salted. Pat dry. Cut the loaf in half horizontally separating the crusty top from the base. Scatter a little salt over each cut side. Use a sharp knife to make diagonal slashes over the soft part of the loaf, taking care not to cut right through. Now make more slashes along the opposite diagonal. Pour over half the olive oil and lay over little pieces of anchovy or sardine. Put the lids on and press down to squeeze the oil into the bread. Open them again and lay over the tomatoes and the olives. Sprinkle over more salt and pepper to taste and pour over the remaining olive oil. Top with pieces of the cheese and the basil leaves. Press down the lids, cut and serve.

The 'wholemeal' flour we usually buy is actually a mix of wholemeal and strong white flour, Bread made purely with wholemeal flour would be very heavy, so you may need to experiment with some less common brands by adding a little white flour to balance them. Originally, all bread was wholemeal, but as the Romans starting milling flour and separating the husk from the white part - the endosperm - white bread became a more popular choice for the rich.

200g biga or madre, either wholemeal or white (1/2 quantity of "starter dough" recipe)
500g strong wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons caster sugar or honey 2 teaspoons salt
10g yeast
350ml tepid water
2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine the flour, the sugar, if using, and the salt in a large bowl. Mix the yeast with the tepid water, the biga, the honey if using, and the oil using a plastic dough scraper or your hands. Make a well in the flour and pour in the yeasted water and biga mixture. Knead for 10 minutes, then place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a little more oil and then clingfilm or a tea-towel, and leave until doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut into even-sized pieces, depending on whether you are making a large loaf or six rolls. Shape into the required shapes following the "Roll Shaping" masterclass and leave to rise until doubled in size once more. Bake the loaf for 30-40 minutes, the rolls for about 15 minutes. 

This bread is made mainly in the south of Italy, where semola flour is frequently used. This flour produces a pale straw-coloured loaf with a slightly crunchy texture. It lasts well. I was shown how to make this bread in Sicily, but also requested the help of my friend Ursula Ferrigno, who was the first person to get me making bread since my school days. Her books and her enthusiasm are a great inspiration.

Makes 4 leaves or 16 small rolls or "Mafalda"
200g biga, you can freeze any leftover biga
375g strong white flour
275g semolina, plus extra for sprinkling over the loaves
15g salt
10g fresh yeast
400ml tepid water
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

Mix the flour, semolina salt and pepper together in a large mixing bowl. Put the yeast into the tepid water and mix with a small whisk or your fingers. Make a well in the flour and pour in the yeasted water and the biga. Mix together using a dough scraper, turn out the dough and knead for about 10 minutes, or until smooth.

Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and leave for 11/2-2 hours, or until doubled in size. Shape the loaves or rolls and put them onto an oiled baking tray. Make a cross with a very sharp knife in the top of each one and leave to prove again until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7. Sprinkle a little semolina over the top of the bread. Bake the loaves for 30-35 minutes, the rolls for around 15 minutes, or until they feel light and sound hollow when tapped.

Variation: Mafalda
Roll out a long sausage of dough, then fold it in on itself, following the "Roll Shaping" masterclass. Finsh by securing one end over the top before baking.