Focaccia with artichokes for Easter, a delicious focaccia with a rich filling to enjoy at Easter and beyond, perfect for the Easter Monday picnic. Focaccia with a rich filling, artichokes, salami, ricotta, and hard-boiled eggs, in short, a focaccia for true connoisseurs and food lovers like me. It resembles the classic Calabrian Easter pitta chjina, but is enriched with pan-cooked artichokes, not to be confused with the classic Genoese Easter pie which is made with a very different base, the pasta matta, whereas this is a leavened focaccia base that makes it truly special. Great to enjoy during the Easter holidays, as an appetizer, or even for the Easter Monday picnic, perfect also for a day trip, and not just at Easter. Great to enjoy hot just made but also delicious and soft cold, in fact in Calabria the Easter stuffed pitta is eaten cold, in the days following its preparation, as it keeps well in a cool pantry for several days.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 1 focaccia for 8 servings
- Cooking methods: Oven, Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients for stuffed focaccia with artichokes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (type 00)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (type 0)
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh yeast
- 1 1/2 tsp fine salt
- 3 artichokes
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 lemon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- parsley
- pepper or chili pepper
- 5 oz ricotta
- 3 hard-boiled eggs
- 3.5 oz Calabrian salami
- 3.5 oz Primo sale cheese
- cooked artichokes
Tools for preparing focaccia with artichokes for Easter
- 2 Bowls
- 1 Pan
- 1 Baking sheet
- 1 Small pot
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Spoon
- Plastic wrap
Steps for preparing focaccia with artichokes for Easter
We prepare the focaccia dough in advance. Dissolve the yeast in water in a bowl. Stir with a spoon to dissolve the yeast, then add one of the flours and mix, add half of the other, and mix again, add the salt, mix, then add the rest of the flour and work by hand, finally add the oil and knead well, transfer to a floured surface to work better. Put in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for 4 hours in a warm place. On cold days, it’s fine in the oven with a pot of hot water.
We clean the artichokes, taking only the tender parts, cut them into thin slices, and put them in a bowl with water and lemon juice to prevent them from turning black. Here are the tips for cleaning artichokes.
Put a little oil in a pan with a crushed garlic clove, heat and add the artichokes, add salt and water, about a cup, and cook. Cook with the lid on over a medium-low heat, they will be ready in 15-20 minutes, let them dry well at the end. If desired, add chili pepper or black pepper and a little chopped parsley with the heat off.
Put the eggs in a small pot with cold water and bring quickly to a boil, at that point lower the heat and cook for 5 minutes from boiling.
Immediately transfer them to cold water, and when they are lukewarm, peel them. Slice them thinly when cold.
Slice the primo sale cheese and salami, ready for the filling.
Take the risen dough and divide it into 2 equal-weight pieces. Round them well on a floured surface and let them rise for an hour in a warm place, covered with a damp cloth.
Take the risen dough pieces and roll them out to form a disk about 12 inches in diameter and line a 12-14 inch round or square baking sheet.
Start filling with cheese, salami, artichokes, ricotta, hard-boiled eggs, and more salami, and close with the second thinly rolled dough piece. Fold the base well over the covering to seal it well. Use a fork to pierce the surface and press to let out trapped air.
Bake in a hot ventilated oven for about 20 minutes at 482°F. Remove from the oven and now you just have to decide whether to enjoy it still hot, or cold, as is traditional in Calabria, as is usually done on Easter Monday.
