Scacce ragusane, delicious food from the deep south of Sicily

Have you ever heard of the famous “scacce ragusane” or the “schiacciata modicana”? I am talking about the beautiful Ragusashire, where Ragusa and Modica are situated, two beautiful jewels in the deepest south of the triangular island. To clarify even more is the area where famous Inspector Montalbano lives and where curious tourists can check out his home.

My nonna Nuccia (my grandma) grew up in the town of Modica and she loved this typical “schiacciata“, which in Sicilian is called scaccia, made with basic local ingredients, but still incredibly tasty and delicious!

You can find different fillings and shapes, but the most ancient and traditional one is filled with tomato sauce and local onion (the perfect one would be the type from Giarratana), while the other one is tomato sauce and the typical local cheese: caciocavallo ragusano.

The dough is very simple and it is rolled out so thinly that you do different layers of the pastry before baking it in the oven.  

Bear in mind that this is a traditional recipe of the Ragusa province (where Modica is also part of), so you won’t be able to find it in any other parts of the island.

Ingredients and preparation for 18-20 scacce:

• Strong Flour 1 kg
• Brewer’s yeast gr 15 
• Fine salt: 2 teaspoons
• Extra virgin olive oil 4-5 tablespoons
• Water at room temperature (half a bottle, roughly 500 ml)

Pour half of the water in a glass or in a small bowl (125 ml) and put the brewer’s yeast inside. With a teaspoon gently stir until it is all melted.

Place the flour on the kitchen counter (or in a large bowl) and make a hole in the middle, then mix the salt and the oil, then start pouring the water with the yeast little by little. 3. Knead the dough until is smooth and homogenous, then separate it in blocks of about 350 gr and let them rise in a warm place for 40-45 minutes.4. Once the dough is soft and bigger, it needs to be rolled out very thinly.

At this point you can stuff the schiacciata with the filling of your choice, that you had prepared before. Careful on how you fold the pastry because has to be done exactly like this pic on the right.

For the fillings:

As I said, the most traditional ones are with tomato sauce and matured caciocavallo cheese or tomato sauce and onion, also called by the locals “cipuddata”, but in our family we have always made a combination of the three ingredients.

This is the perfect match as the onion has a sweet but decise taste while the caciocavallo is salty and sharp, so they balance each other out perfectly.