Ragusa Stuffed Flatbreads | Scacce Ragusane

Sep 30

11 min read

Scacce Ragusane (Italian Ragusa Stuffed Flatbreads)

A scaccia is a sheet of semolina dough rolled almost transparent, covered with a thin layer of tomato and cheese, and folded over itself until it becomes a compact, many layered packet. Baked until the outside crackles and the inside turns soft and savory, it is the great street bread of southeastern Sicily.

Yield: 6 scacce. Prep: 40 minutes. Rise: 2 hours. Bake: 30 minutes. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: main course. Region: Sicily, Ragusa and the Iblei hills.

The Story

The scaccia belongs to the province of Ragusa, the limestone corner of Sicily where dry stone walls divide small fields of carob, olive and wheat, and where the towns of Ragusa, Modica and Vittoria all claim the best version. It began as work food. Farmers and shepherds needed something that could be made from what the house always had, travel in a pocket all morning, and still taste of something at noon. Semolina from local durum wheat, a little oil, tomatoes from the summer put up in jars, and a hard cheese from the cellar were enough.

The cheese matters as much as the dough. Ragusano is a stretched curd cheese made from the milk of Modicana cows, shaped into a rectangular block and hung to age from ropes, which is where the old name caciocavallo comes from: cheese hung as if astride a horse. Young, it is sweet and milky and melts into the tomato. Aged, it turns sharp and spicy. Ragusan bakers choose the age according to the filling, and every family has an opinion about it that it will share without being asked.

The name is often linked to a Sicilian verb meaning to squash or flatten, which fits a dough pressed thinner than seems reasonable, though nobody has settled the etymology. What everyone agrees on is the ritual. Bakeries in Ragusa sell scacce by the slice, cut across so the layers show, and fillings change with the season: tomato and cheese first, then onion, then eggplant, sausage or ricotta and spinach. Tomato and cheese is the one from which all the others descend, and it is the one to learn before any other.

There is also a quiet logic in the shape. A folded, sealed packet keeps its filling clean in a bag, and thin layers cook through in the time a farmer would spend moving between two fields. The scaccia was never meant to be admired. It was meant to be eaten warm from a paper wrapper on a hillside, and its quality is judged by the sound it makes when broken and by how little grease it leaves on the fingers. Today the same logic survives in bakeries and home kitchens across the Iblei, where scacce are still baked in wood ovens on weekends and carried to family tables, to the beach and to the countryside in the same folded paper.

Ingredients

Gather everything before you start, because the dough waits for no one once it is rolled. Use the best canned tomatoes you can find and a cheese that you have tasted yourself. Fine semolina is the one ingredient that cannot be replaced, since ordinary flour gives a softer, less crisp result.

For the dough

Semola rimacinata (fine durum semolina), 3 3/4 cups (600 g), plus more for dusting
Warm water, 1 1/3 cups (320 ml)
Extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Instant yeast, 1 tsp (3 g)
Fine sea salt, 2 tsp (12 g)

For the tomato filling

Crushed tomatoes, 1 can 14 oz (400 g)
Yellow onion, thinly sliced, 1 medium
Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Dried oregano, 1 tsp (1 g)
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the cheese

Young Ragusano DOP or caciocavallo, coarsely grated, 8 oz (225 g)
Pecorino Siciliano, finely grated, 2 oz (55 g)

For finishing

Extra virgin olive oil, for brushing, 2 tbsp (30 ml)
Coarse sea salt, 1 pinch
Oven temperature, 425°F (220°C)

For dusting and serving

Semolina for the counter, 1/4 cup (40 g)
Green Castelvetrano olives, 1/2 cup (75 g)
Fennel bulb, thinly sliced, 1 small, about 5 oz (140 g)
Lemon juice, 1 tbsp (15 ml)

Preparation

Mix and knead the dough

Stir the semolina, yeast and salt together in a large bowl. Add the water and olive oil and mix until no dry flour remains, then knead on the counter for 8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Semolina absorbs water slowly, so the dough feels stiff at first and relaxes as you work it. When it springs back slowly under a fingertip, it is ready. Place it in an oiled bowl, cover it with a damp towel and let it rise for 1 hour in a warm place, until it has puffed by about half.

Reduce the tomato filling

Soften the onion in the olive oil over low heat for 8 minutes without color. Add the tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for 15 minutes, stirring, until the sauce is thick enough to hold a line when a spoon is dragged through it. A loose sauce turns the layers to paste, so keep reducing. Taste and adjust the salt, remembering the cheese will add more. Cool it completely, because warm sauce would soften the dough as you spread it.

Divide and rest the dough

Punch the dough down, divide it into 6 pieces of about 5 oz (140 g) each and shape them into smooth balls. Cover and rest for 1 hour. Tuck the edges underneath so each ball has a taut, smooth top. Relaxed gluten is what lets you roll the dough so thin without it springing back or tearing.

Roll each piece paper thin

On a semolina dusted counter, roll one ball into a rectangle about 12 by 16 inches (30 by 40 cm), turning it often. Work from the center outward until the dough is about 1/16 inch (1.5 mm) thick and you can see the counter grain through it. Lift and dust the dough with semolina as you go, and stretch the corners gently with your fingertips.

Spread the filling as a veil

Spread about 3 tablespoons of tomato sauce over the whole rectangle with the back of a spoon, in a layer so thin the dough shows through. Scatter one sixth of the two cheeses evenly, without piling any in the center. Leave a margin of about 1/2 inch (1 cm) at the edges so the sauce does not squeeze out when you fold.

Fold three times

Fold the long edges in to meet at the center, close the packet like a book, then fold it in half once more. Press gently. You should have a neat packet of about 4 by 6 inches (10 by 15 cm). Transfer it to a parchment lined tray, seam side down, and repeat with the others, leaving 1 inch (2.5 cm) between packets.

Prick, brush and bake

Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Prick the surface of each scaccia all over with a fork, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake on the middle rack for 25 to 30 minutes, until deep golden, blistered in places and crisp at the edges. Turn the tray once halfway through for even color.

Rest before cutting

Let the scacce stand for 10 minutes on a rack. The steam inside redistributes, the layers set, and a knife cuts through them cleanly instead of dragging.

Plating

Serve the scacce warm, not hot, on a wooden board or a plain white plate. Cut each one across the middle with a serrated knife so the cross section shows the alternating lines of dough, tomato and cheese, then lean the two halves against each other, cut side up.

A small bowl of green olives and a few slices of raw fennel or a wedge of tomato salad on the side cools the richness. In Ragusa, a scaccia is often eaten by hand, as a light lunch, with nothing more than a glass of wine. Do not add sauce on top, since the point is the crisp exterior. Drizzle a few drops of olive oil over the fennel with lemon juice and serve it alongside for freshness. Warm the plates lightly so the crust does not lose heat.

Professional Technique

The whole scaccia rests on one relationship: the number of folds and the thickness of the dough are tied together. The dough is rolled to about 1/16 inch (1.5 mm), thin enough to read through, and then folded three times. Each fold doubles the layers, so three folds give eight layers of dough in a packet only a little thicker than a finger. If the sheet is rolled to 1/8 inch (3 mm) instead, twice as thick, the same three folds build a packet twice as thick. The outside browns long before the center cooks, and the heart stays pale and doughy while the surface is already dark.

The filling has to be spread as a veil, never dropped in spoonfuls. Every clump of sauce or cheese keeps the layers above and below it from touching, so they cannot bond during baking. Trapped there, the tomato turns to steam and expands against the dough, and the scaccia bursts along a seam and leaks. A thin, even film glues the layers into a single laminated structure and leaves no room for a pocket.

For the same reason the surface is pricked with a fork before it goes into the oven. The holes are vents: they let steam escape from between the layers in a controlled way, so the top stays flat and the layers do not balloon apart. Prick deep enough to pass through all eight layers, closely spaced, and pay particular attention to the center, where steam gathers first and pressure is highest. A scaccia that has been pricked and one that has not look the same going in, but only one of them comes out flat.

Texture and Moisture Control

A good scaccia has three textures: a crisp, blistered surface, a chewy middle made of many fine layers, and a soft, savory interior where tomato and cheese have fused with the dough. Moisture is the variable that decides all three. A wet sauce softens the layers and produces a gummy scaccia, which is why the tomato is cooked down until it holds a line and cooled before use.

Semolina helps. Fine durum flour has a lower moisture uptake than soft wheat flour and gives a firmer, slightly sandy bite that stays crisp for hours. Dust the counter with semolina rather than all purpose flour so the dough does not take on extra soft flour as you roll it.

Heat sets the crust. A 425°F (220°C) oven dries the surface quickly, then the moisture from the filling steams the inner layers. The oil brushed on top promotes browning and prevents the thin surface from drying to a cracker. Resting on a rack lets the steam leave from below, so the bottom stays crisp instead of turning soft on a plate. If you serve scacce later, a few minutes in a hot oven revive the crust by driving off the surface moisture that has crept back from the filling.

Professional Mise en Place

Scacce are made in stages, and the work is mostly in the rolling. Set everything up so that once the first dough is on the counter, nothing interrupts you. Clear a large, clean surface, and keep the semolina, the sauce and the cheese within easy reach.

Equipment and tools

Long rolling pin, 20 inches (50 cm) or longer, and a large counter
Two heavy baking sheets, parchment paper, a wire rack
Serrated knife, fork for pricking, pastry brush
Bench scraper for lifting the dough, and a clean towel to keep resting balls covered

Prepared ahead

Tomato sauce, cooked and cooled, up to 2 days ahead
Cheeses grated and refrigerated, up to 1 day ahead
Fennel sliced and held in cold water with lemon, up to 3 hours ahead
Dough balls, rolled and rested, or kept refrigerated overnight and brought to room temperature

Service setup

Oven at full temperature for 30 minutes before baking
Scacce cut only at the moment of serving
Board, olives and napkins ready, because they are eaten by hand
Oven rack positioned in the middle and baking sheets preheated for a crisper base

Chef Tips

Buy fine semolina labeled rimacinata, not the coarse pasta grade, or the dough will tear before it gets thin. If it resists rolling, stop for 10 minutes and let the gluten relax rather than forcing it. A relaxed dough rolls out in half the effort, and it will thank you with a thinner, more even sheet.

Mix young and aged cheese for the best flavor: two thirds sweet Ragusano for melt, one third sharp for character. Grate it coarsely so it melts into the veil of sauce instead of clumping.

Cook the onion slowly, so it sweetens without browning. Bitter browned onion cannot be hidden in such a thin filling. Salt it lightly at the start so it releases its water and sweetens sooner.

Bake one tray at a time on the middle rack if your oven is uneven, and rotate it halfway. A scaccia that is pale on one side is underbaked on the inside, and the tell is a base that feels soft when tapped.

Common Mistakes

Rolling the dough too thick. Beyond 1/16 inch (1.5 mm), three folds create a heavy packet that browns outside before the center cooks. Roll until you see the counter through the dough, and stretch the corners, which are always thicker.

Using a wet sauce. Loose tomato turns the layers to paste. Cook it down until a spoon leaves a clear trail and let it cool before spreading.

Filling in spoonfuls. Clumps stop the layers from bonding and leave steam pockets that burst the seam. Spread a veil, edge to edge.

Skipping the fork. Without vents, steam builds between the layers and splits the surface. Prick all over, through every layer.

Under seasoning the sauce. With only a thin layer of filling, there is little room for flavor to hide. Taste the sauce before spreading, and season it a little more than seems right, since the dough is neutral.

Cutting too soon. A scaccia cut straight from the oven smears the layers and releases all its steam. Rest it for 10 minutes on a rack.

Wine Pairing

Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG: Sicily's only DOCG comes from the same province as the scaccia, blending Nero d'Avola and Frappato. Bright cherry fruit and moderate tannin suit the cooked tomato, while its lively acidity cuts through the melted cheese without overwhelming the thin layers. Serve it at about 60°F (16°C). It is the natural local pairing, made a few miles from where the scaccia was born.

Etna Bianco DOC: Carricante from volcanic slopes gives a sharp, saline, lemony wine with a mineral finish. Its high acidity refreshes the palate against the oil and pecorino, and the salinity echoes the coarse salt on the crust. Choose a young bottle, since its citrus edge is the point, and serve it well chilled.

Grillo Sicilia DOC: A dry white with citrus, white peach and herbal notes, and a rounder body than most Sicilian whites. It matches the weight of the semolina dough and stands up to the oregano in the tomato without any oak. Its faintly herbal finish echoes the tomato leaf, and its moderate acidity keeps the cheese from feeling heavy.

Etna Rosso DOC: Nerello Mascalese offers red fruit, smoke and firm, fine tannin with high acidity. It meets the tomato acidity directly, and its tannin gets softened by the fat in the aged cheese. Serve it lightly cooled at 60°F (16°C). It is the best choice for those who prefer a red with tomato and aged cheese, and it never overpowers the delicate dough or the mild sweetness of the tomato.

Storage & Reheating

Scacce keep in the refrigerator, wrapped in parchment and then in a sealed container, for up to 3 days. They also freeze well: wrap each one tightly and freeze for up to 2 months, baked and fully cooled. Separate any layers of scacce with parchment, so they do not stick, and label with the date. Refrigerated scacce lose some crispness, which the oven restores.

Reheat on a baking sheet in a 375°F (190°C) oven for 10 to 12 minutes, straight from the refrigerator, or 18 minutes from frozen. Never use the microwave, which turns the layers soft and rubbery. The filling improves slightly the next day as the tomato and cheese meld into the layers. Store any spare tomato sauce separately in a jar for up to 5 days, and use it again for the next batch or for a quick plate of pasta.