Schiaccia briaca: a typical recipe of Christmas on Elba Island

You have decided to spend Christmas on Elba Island. You have also drawn the itinerary with the things to see. Take a good advice. There is a typical recipe that, with its distinctive flavor, will make you feel the real taste of Christmas on Elba island: it’s schiaccia briaca.

Ingredients (for 4 persons):

• 1kg of flour
• 500g of sugar
• 200g raisins
• dried fruit
• pine nuts
• extra virgin olive oil
• a glass of Aleatico wine
• a glass of alchèrmes
• 15g of yeast

Do you have these ingredients? Before you start cooking, you need a baking tray, a pastry board and, obviously, an oven.

Ho to prepare:

1. The evening before, melt the stick of yeast in a glass with warm water. Add 100g of flour, mix everything, cover with a cloth until next day.
2. The next day, put the rest of the flour on the pastry board.
3. Add dried fruit, raisins, oil, the glass of Aleatico, the glass of alchèrmes and the yeast.
4. Knead. This takes a bit ‘of time because the dough should be soft and smooth.
5. Oil the baking tray. Now, roll out the dough on the baking tray. Distribute pine nuts over the entire surface.
6. Bake at 180°C for 40/45 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven. At this point you just have to cut it into small squares and serve.

Once you remove it from the oven, enjoy the fragrant scent of schiaccia briaca. And now imagine the scene: at Christmas, the streets of Elba are pervaded by this same scent.

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Image source: “Schiaccia briaca dettaglio” di F Ceragioli – Opera propria. Con licenza Pubblico dominio tramite Wikimedia Commons