Sicilian sfincione 

The sfincione is a typical Sicilian specialty, a characteristic focaccia embellished by the presence of cheese, anchovies and various aromas. It is rich in flavor and can be eaten either hot at the moment or cold the next day. There are many variations of sfincione. The tasty sfincione is made with a mixture of flour, yeast and other ingredients that will then be spread in a baking pan and seasoned with browned onions with the sauce before cooking. Here are the steps for the sfincione recipe.

Don't just call it pizza, let alone focaccia! The sfincione palermitano is much more, a real riot of the typical flavors of Sicily, to be enjoyed at home with family and friends on Saturday evening, but also outside the home, on the street. It is undoubtedly the symbol of Sicilian street food.

Prepared with a few simple ingredients such as tomato, anchovies and caciocavallo, it is a delicacy with an intense flavor, typically Mediterranean. Just think that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has even decided to include sfincione among the traditional Italian agri-food products! So what are you waiting for? Come with me to discover the recipe of sfincione palermitano, so you can also make it at home and bring a bit of Sicily on your table.

Ingredients

500g flour

230 g water

12 g fresh brewer's yeast

1 teaspoon salt

60 g olive oil

to prepare the dressing

200 ml tomato puree

100 g caciocavallo cheese

Anchovies in oil

Olive oil to taste

Salt to taste

Breadcrumbs 

Procedure

First of all it is necessary to prepare the sfincione dough, also because it must rest for a long time: You have to heat the yeast, putting it in a glass together with a little bit of water and stirring. In a bowl, or directly on the work surface, put the flour and baking powder. Then add the remaining water, salt and extra virgin olive oil. Knead all the ingredients. Initially we recommend that you knead with the help of a fork or kitchen ladle directly into the bowl. When the ingredients begin to mix together, you can instead move your dough to a floured cutting board and proceed directly with your hands. You have to get a homogeneous and smooth dough. Put the dough to rise for two or three, however, until it is doubled in volume. At this point prepare the seasoning. In a pan, brown the onion in plenty of olive oil that you have previously cut into thin slices. Add the tomato and season with salt. Cook until the tomato is thick. After two hours of leavening, you have to roll out the dough. Consider that the sfincione palermitano must be high and soft. Precisely for this reason you should not use the rolling pin, but directly your hands. It is also good to roll out the dough directly into the pan where you are going to cook the sfincione. I advise you to leave the dough to rise another half hour after rolling it out. Spread the anchovies into small pieces and the diced caciocavallo cheese on top of the dough. Cover with tomato. Add a little breadcrumbs and a generous dose of oregano. Put your sfincione palermitano in the oven, which you have preheated to 200 ° C, for about 50 minutes. When the sfincione is ready, we recommend putting it on a cutting board when it is still hot and cutting it into large rectangles, just as it is usual to do in Sicily.

Useful tips on the choice of ingredients

I am perfectly aware that the ingredients necessary for the realization of the sfincione palermitano are very easy to find. Most of them you definitely already have available at home. The others you can buy directly at the nearest supermarket. It is also true, however, that only by choosing typical Sicilian products, which are not designed for large-scale distribution and which are still made today following the most ancient traditions, you have the opportunity to bring home the true flavor of Sicily. This is especially true for caciocavallo, a typical Sicilian cheese with ancient origins, which if made with raw milk from the best cows, such as cinisara or modicana, takes on a simply incredible flavor. However, it also applies to tomato puree, because Sicilian tomatoes are among the tastiest in Italy, and to anchovies. Even Sicilian extra virgin olive oil can be incredible, opting for a local production that still cold-presses the olives and bottles the product independently. Fortunately, e-commerce specialized in Sicilian products are now available online that offer you the opportunity to buy products duly selected among the best on the island. 

Curiosity

The recipe I have proposed is the typical one of Palermo. It is important to remember that there is also the Bagherese variant. The procedure is always the same, as well as the ingredients, only that in this variant there is no tomato puree, a Sicilian sfincione in short white. Obviously today you have the opportunity to taste in Sicily many other versions, which start from the base that I have described with the addition of many other ingredients. And even if you want you can indulge yourself and try to make your own version! In my opinion, however, the traditional one is the best. But where does the term sfincione come from and by whom was it invented? Many say that the term derives from the Greek spongos, which means sponge. After all, in fact, the sfincione dough is very soft just like a sponge and full of bubbles inside. However, there are those who claim that the term derives from the Arabic root sfincia, used to represent all soft sweets. Even in this case, however, it is always to its extreme softness that reference is made. Beyond the etymology, it seems that the sfincione was invented by the nuns of the monastery of San Vito. The sisters wanted to give life to a bread suitable for the holidays, richer therefore than the bread that is eaten daily. However, they certainly did not have any kind of ingredients available. So with those few ingredients of easy availability that they had, poor and simple, they created the sfincione. This also explains why, in addition to being a street food to buy at the market and at the street vendors carts of the city, the sfincione the Sicilians are used to bring it to the table even for all the most important holidays, including Christmas of course.