• * The recipe.

Preparation: 180 Min. Difficulty: Easy

• Doses for: 4-6

Ingredients

• For the dough

• 300 g of zero flour (or zero zero)
• 200 g of re-milled durum wheat semolina.
• 350 ml of warm water
• 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 5 g of salt
• 10 g of fresh brewer's yeast

• For onion seasoning

• 400 g of peeled tomatoes
• 300 g of onions
• 6/7 anchovy fillets in oil
• 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

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A teaspoon of sugar (or finely chopped raisins) if the tomato is too acidic.

• For the seasoning

• 200 g of tuma (or fresh or semi-mature caciocavallo).

A glass full of breadcrumbs or, better yet, stale breadcrumbs.

Two tablespoons of pecorino

Dried oregano to taste

How to Prepare Sfincione

Prepare the dough: Combine the flour and re-milled durum wheat semolina in a bowl. Mix the flours and crumble the fresh brewer's yeast. Pour the warm water and mix with a spoon to incorporate it. Add the oil and then the salt. Knead quickly with your hands, then turn the dough onto a floured work surface and work it, spreading it with your hands and making some folds. When the dough is well mixed, form a smooth and homogeneous ball. Transfer the ball into a bowl, grease the surface with a drizzle of oil and cover with cling film. Let it rest in the oven with the light on until it doubles in size, about 2 hours.

Prepare the sauce: Peel the onions and cut them into slices. Chop the peeled tomatoes. In a saucepan, pour the extra virgin olive oil, add the chopped anchovy fillets and the onions. Cook over low heat until the onions are well softened. Pour in the peeled tomatoes, season with salt (add a teaspoon of sugar or chopped raisins if the tomato was too acrid), cover with a lid. Let it cook over a low heat for about an hour or a little more, adding a ladle of hot water if necessary. Turn off and let cool.

Assemble the sfincione: Grease a 24×32 cm baking pan. Take the leavened dough and tip it into the pan. With your hands lightly greased with oil, gently roll out the dough without breaking the bubbles. Arrange small pieces of anchovies if you want and leave to rise for about 30 minutes. In the meantime, cut the tuma into half a centimeter thick slices and squares. Once the leavening time has passed, distribute the pieces of cheese over the dough and sprinkle with half the breadcrumbs that you have worked separately with a little grated pecorino, oregano oil and a spoonful or two of water.

Cover with the onion sauce, add the other half of seasoned breadcrumbs. Let it rest for about 10/15 minutes.

Cook: Cook in a static oven at 250°C for 10 minutes, placing the pan on the first level (the lowest one). Then move it to the second level (the intermediate one) and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. When the edges are quite golden, take the sfincione out of the oven and let it rest for a few minutes.

Conservation

Palermo sfincione can be kept for 2 days in the refrigerator or in a dry place, wrapped in food paper. You can enjoy it cold or warm it up for a few minutes in the oven to make it taste like it's freshly baked.

• * Curiosity.

There are many variations of sfincione throughout the province, in the city itself and in the bakeries! They even change from family to family! In Bagheria the white one with ricotta is famous, in Carini they don't add breadcrumbs, in Ballarò not even the first salt! In some countries it has an extra thickness, in Ficarazzi they make the variant with onion and cauliflower!

There are those who use very little onion, there are those who use very little tomato! Who wants the crumb on the bottom and who only on the top! In San Lorenzo, they don't use tuma but small cubes of caciocavallo! In short, Sfincione always has a different flavor depending on where you eat it despite the common root!

What we have proposed to you is, approximately, that of eastern Palermo, in the way of my mother who does it like her mother-in-law did!

Credits: Sicily World [ pagina FACEBOOK® ]