Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [297]
2. Take the dough out of the bowl, and slap it down very hard against the work counter several times, until it is stretched out into a long and narrow shape. Reach for the far end of the dough, fold it a short distance toward you, push it away with the heel of your palm, flexing your wrist, fold it, and push it away again, gradually rolling it up and bringing it close to you. Rotate the dough a one-quarter turn, pick it up, and slap it down hard, repeating the entire previous operation. Give it another one-quarter turn in the same direction and repeat the procedure for about 10 minutes. Pat the kneaded dough into a round shape.
3. Film the inside of a clean bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil, put in the dough, cover with plastic wrap, and put the bowl in a protected, warm corner. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in volume, about 3 hours. While the dough is rising you can prepare the conza.
Food processor note The previous two steps may be carried out in the food processor.
CONZA DI SAN VITO—MEAT AND CHEESE FILLING
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ cup onion sliced very thin
½ pound ground beef, preferably chuck
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
½ cup dry white wine
⅓ cup cooked unsmoked ham chopped rather coarse
½ cup imported Italian fontina cheese diced very fine
¼ cup fresh ricotta
Note Palermo’s primo sale and fresh caciocavallo cheeses that are both part of this stuffing are not yet, as I write, available outside Sicily. I have replaced them with a combination of fontina and ricotta to achieve mild flavor with a tart accent. I think it works, but if you have other ideas, try them out.
1. Put the olive oil and onion in a saute pan and turn on the heat to medium high. Stir occasionally, and cook until the onion becomes colored a deep, dark gold. Add the ground beef, salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork and cook it, stirring frequently, until it loses its raw, red color.
2. Add the wine, turn the heat down a little, and continue cooking until all liquid has simmered away. Transfer the contents of the pan to a bowl, and set aside to cool.
3. When cool, add the ham, fontina, and ricotta to the bowl and toss thoroughly until all ingredients have been evenly combined.
ASSEMBLING AND BAKING THE SFINCIUNI
A baking stone Cornmeal
A baker’s peel (paddle)
2 tablespoons plain, unflavored bread crumbs, lightly oasted
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
A pastry brush
1. At least 30 minutes before you are ready to bake—the dough will have been rising for about 2½ hours—put the baking stone in the oven, and preheat oven to 400°.
2. Sprinkle cornmeal on the baker’s peel.
3. When the dough has doubled in volume, divide it in half. Wrap one half in plastic wrap, and put the other half on the peel. Use a rolling pin to flatten it out into a circle at least 10 inches in diameter. The rim should be no thicker than the rest of the disk.
4. Distribute 1 tablespoon of bread crumbs over the dough and 1 teaspoon olive oil, stopping about ½ inch short of the edge. Spread the meat and cheese conza over it, again stopping short of the edge, and top the filling with 1 tablespoon bread crumbs and 2 teaspoons olive oil.
5. Unwrap the remaining dough, put it on a lightly floured work surface, and roll it out into a disk large enough to cover the first. Place it over the stuffing and crimp the edges of the two circles of dough securely together, bringing the edge of the lower one up over that of the top one.
6. Brush the top of the dough with water, then slide the sfinciuni off the peel and onto the preheated baking stone. Bake for 25 minutes. After removing it from the oven, let it settle for 30 minutes to allow the flavors of the stuffing sufficient time to come together and develop.