Today, a traditional Abruzzese recipe: SCIMA pizza with Montepulciano.

SCIMA pizza is a “foolish” pizza in the sense of being simple, as it’s made with just three basic ingredients: flour, oil, and white wine. Today, I propose a SCIMA pizza with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo because this fantastic preparation originates from here.
A yeast-free pizza kneaded with wine (traditionally white and dry) that makes it very crumbly, and the Montepulciano adds a touch of flavor that I think is perfect.
A unique taste, crunchy on the outside and soft inside, crumbly to the right point, mouthwatering!

“SCIMA pizza appears as a low white-golden flatbread with rhomboid reliefs on the surface, and its basic recipe, which has many variants, involves only flour, water, salt, and extra-virgin olive oil, making the pizza fragrant and crunchy, giving it the typical taste that distinguishes it. Variants, depending on the production area, in Lanciano, for example, involve the addition of white wine, while in other areas, to mitigate the compact aspect due to the absence of yeast, some baking soda is added to the dough to make it more crumbly.” taken from LE TERRE DEI TRABOCCHI .

My version is the one with wine since I am originally from Lanciano and learned to make it this way from my mother and grandmother. Tradition has it being cooked in the fireplace under the ‘coppo,’ a concave lid that allows for even cooking, let’s say an ancient ancestor of the oven. Unfortunately, I do not have a fireplace at home, so I prepare it in a traditional oven.

Let’s see together, step by step, how to make this recipe.

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Ingredients for SCIMA Pizza

Below you’ll find links to the ingredients used

13.4 oz all-purpose flour
0.85 cups red wine (Montepulciano d'Abruzzo)
0.42 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp fine salt

Tools

Below you’ll find links to some tools used to make the recipe

1 Scale
1 Measuring Cup
1 Pastry Board
1 Rolling Pin
1 Baking Pan

Let’s Get Started!

On a work surface, create a well with the flour and pour in the Montepulciano red wine, vegetable oil (you can also use olive oil), and salt, and start kneading first with the help of a fork, being careful not to let the liquids escape from the flour circle, and then use your hands.
Knead energetically for 4/5 minutes until you obtain a smooth and soft ball, cover it with an overturned bowl or a cloth, and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
Now that the SCIMA pizza dough has rested, take a sheet of parchment paper, place it on a work surface, and put the dough on top. With the help of a rolling pin, roll it out to a disk of 0.6 to 0.8 inches thick. We roll it on parchment paper to make it easier to transfer from the board to the baking pan.
Place the SCIMA pizza with Montepulciano in the baking pan by simply sliding the parchment paper inside, then, with a sharp knife, score it superficially forming the characteristic diamonds that distinguish it, making it easier to break when eating.
Slightly salt it on top and bake in a preheated oven at a temperature of 428°F for about 30 minutes, or until golden on the surface. Once baked, let it cool slightly, then break it with your hands and eat.
Take a picture of your SCIMA pizza, post it on social media tagging me (unaricciachepasticcia), and let me know if you liked this version.
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