▶The term “ciaccino” is a diminutive variant, often used to indicate a smaller or “mini” version of the ciaccia.
▶The name “ciaccia” is the more traditionally used for this dish, especially in the area of Siena and Tuscany in general.
▶Both terms refer to a rustic focaccia, which can be either sweet or savory.
🔸Ciaccia = traditional and most widespread version.
🔸Ciaccino = diminutive, used for smaller versions or as a regional variant.
▶The Sienese savory ciaccino often features some variations with additions like olives, sun-dried tomatoes, or different herbs. The common point in all versions is the use of olive oil and coarse salt.
🖊Mine is the traditional one, but gluten-free
I prepared a Sienese ciaccino with rice flour and Dexter, my gluten-free sourdough, with the addition of black olives and sun-dried tomatoes.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Rest time: 4 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 4 cups rice flour
- 7 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup water
- 3.5 oz gluten-free sourdough (or 1 oz fresh yeast)
- 1.5 tsp salt
- to taste coarse salt
- to taste black olives
- to taste sun-dried tomatoes
Steps
Prepare the dough: in a large bowl, sift the flour and add the yeast. Add the salt, olive oil, and a bit of water at a time, starting to mix with a fork. Continue adding water until the dough becomes smooth and homogeneous.
Knead the dough: transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it for about 5 minutes until achieving a soft but elastic texture. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise for 4 hours.
Roll out the dough: once risen, take the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured surface. You can roll it out like a focaccia (rather thin, about 3/8 inch thick) or thicker if you prefer a softer texture.
Add the chopped black olives and sun-dried tomatoes on top of the dough.
Baking: transfer the dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle the surface with a bit of coarse salt and a drizzle of oil for extra crunchiness.
Bake in a preheated static oven at 392°F for about 20-25 minutes, or until the surface of the ciaccino is golden and crispy.
You can purchase the personalized cutting board on the Affetta Tartufi Tenderni website with my discount code SELENE10.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
How can I convert sourdough to baker’s yeast?
CONVERTING SOURDOUGH TO BAKER’S YEAST
It’s important to know that you can’t do a one-to-one substitution by weight, but the percentage to follow is as follows:
50g sourdough = 5% baker’s yeast + 45% flour + 35% water
CONVERTING BAKER’S YEAST TO SOURDOUGH
If you want to perform a recipe that includes baker’s yeast but want to use your sourdough, you can simply multiply the amount of baker’s yeast by 12, for example 25 grams of baker’s yeast = 300g of sourdough.
