Stecca

Italian Stecca

This delightful Italian creation is what you get when you cross Foccacia and a baguette together.  It is a really great pairing with a cheese or charcuterie board and open to lots of interpretations.  Plus it is pretty easy to make in a hands off, but you need to plan a day ahead sort of way.  In other words, my favorite style. These were inspired by the great Jim Lahey who started the no knead craze and it’s easy to turn out as beautiful versions as he has in his cookbook!

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Italian Stecca

Stecca means stick in Italian and these little "stick" breads are delightful and similar to the baby of a baguette and a Foccacia.  

Ingredients

  • 4.5 cups flour, bread or all purpose
  • 3/4 teaspoons table salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 scant teaspoon yeast
  • 2 1/4 cups water room temp, to cool, but not cold
  • coarse sea salt
  • olive oil
  • toppings: cherry tomatoes, olives garlic, herbs, etc

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, sugar, and yeast.  Add the water and stir it all together into a wet sticky mess.  Cover the bowl and let it rise for at least 12 hours and up to 18.

  2. After the rise, use some flour to dust a work surface and plop the dough out on it, and fold the dough over on itself about 5 times and shape into a rectangular shape.  Brush the top of the dough with olive oil and sprinkle with about 1/4 teaspoon of coarse salt.  Let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 to 2 hours depending on the warmth of your room.  

  3. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees for at least 30 minutes before you bake your bread.

  4. Take two large rimmed 1/2 sheet pans and oil them with olive oil.  Next, divide the dough into 6 portions and gently stretch, roll and shape into long thin sticks about 14-16 inches long and place 3 each per sheet pan.  Choose the variation (or all!) below to top your bread.

    Plain Stecca: Brush olive oil down the length of the bread and sprinkle with coarse salt.  

    Olive Variation: for an olive stecca, dot several, good (pitted!) olives down the length of the bread.  Evenly space them and make sure you push them down slightly but firmly into the dough.  About 10-12 is about right.  Brush olive oil down the length of the bread.  You don't really need to add salt on your olive stecca if your olives are already salty.  

    Tomato Variation:  for a tomato stecca, slice cherry tomatoes in half and dot the stecca cut side up evenly down the stecca.  You can then add herbs like thyme or parsley and even a very thin slice of garlic to the top of the tomato.  Brush olive oil down the length of the bread and sprinkle with coarse salt.

  5. Once your stecca is dressed,  and your oven is heated, it is time to bake in the oven for about 18-22 minutes until deeply golden.