Castagnaccio
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Loading...Castagnaccio is basically a chestnut pizza. An ancient recipe of Italian Cooking, born in Tuscany, which involves the use of chestnut flour, raisins, pine nuts and rosemary. A truly unique taste that sits perfectly halfway between sweet and savory. For me it is a taste of childhood, my mother was fond of it and I see her again buying a strip of castagnaccio when I accompanied her to bakery: in fact in Rome the castagnaccio is not found in a pastry shop but at the baker and, if you visit the city in the autumn months, you will find it displayed for sale next to bread, in large rectangular trays, in the space dedicated to pizzas.
Ingredients
- Chestnut Flour 500gr
- Whole Milk 1lt
- Water 1/2lt
- White Sugar 3 table spoons
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil 3 table spoons
- Raisins
- Pine Nuts
- Rosemary
- Salt
Instructions
Weigh all the ingredients, pre-heat the oven to 180 ° / 350F and put the raisins in warm water to make them rehydrate
Sift the flour (not an essential step, but if you do it it's better) in a bowl and add the water and milk a little at a time, mixing well with a whisk to avoid lumps. Add sugar and oil, a pinch of salt and, finally, the pine nuts and the well-squeezed raisins, saving some of both to add after cooking
Let the mixture rest for a few minutes and in the meantime grease the pan with plenty of oil, line it with a sheet of parchment paper and grease it again: this step is important because the castagnaccio sticks and if you don't prepare the pan well you won't be able to detach it.
When the oven is hot, mix the mixture well for the last time (which tends to separate), pour it into the pan and sprinkle some rosemary leaves on the surface. A little more oil and put in the oven.
Cook for about 30/40 minutes, until you see cracks form on the surface and a delicious crust on the edges. If it should brown too much, cover with aluminum foil.
Let the castagnaccio cool and sprinkle the surface with the raisins and the remaining pine nuts, giving an extra touch of color with many other rosemary leaves
Notes
Preparing the castagnaccio is really simple: it's like making pizza but there is no need to let the dough rise. However, such a simple recipe requires excellent ingredients: chestnut flour must be freshly made because it deteriorates easily and becomes bitter, I recommend that you check the packaging date on the package. Extra virgin olive oil is also essential, I use the Tuscan one which is sweet, fragrant and with a very pronounced taste.
ItalianCookingTips
Chestnut flour must be of excellent quality and fresh because it tends to deteriorate very quickly and become bitter. For this the castagnaccio is prepared in autumn, when the chestnuts are ripe and can be ground at the moment
ItalianCookinTips
Castagnaccio is made of very few ingredients, all essential and which must be of excellent quality: chestnut flour, water, sugar, extra virgin olive oil, raisins, pine nuts and, last but not least, rosemary.
In this recipe you will also find a generous dose of milk that is not traditional, but which adds sweetness and softness to the dough
ItalianCookingTips
The dough must be fairly liquid. In my recipe I add milk, which is not present in the original preparation, which gives a more rounded and delicate taste
ItalianCookingTips
I follow the Roman tradition and prepare the castagnaccio in a rectangular pan, but you can also use a round pan: the important thing is that it has low edges and is very well oiled
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