Pizza Scima
This simple and delicious, unleavened Italian flatbread makes for a perfect appetizer or charcuterie centerpiece.
An invention of 13th-century, Jewish settlers to the Italian region of Abruzzo (the Chieti province to be exact), pizza scima or “silly pizza” is one of my new favorite recipes. Made with just flour, salt, olive oil and wine, this brilliantly simple flatbread is basically made for dipping, which makes it the perfect choice for anyone entertaining, although it’s good enough that you might want to keep all to yourself!
My wife Jess put this all together. If you couldn’t tell, she’s the real culinary rockstar in this house!
In Abruzzo, it’s traditional to use Solina wheat flour, but it’s unlikely that you’re going to find this outside of Europe (at least inexpensively) so, I used Type 00 flour, but bread flour, all-purpose flour, or even a mixture of whole wheat and…non-whole wheat would work.
You’ll want to use two types of salt for this recipe; regular, fine salt for the dough, and coarse or Kosher salt for topping. The olive oil can be any kind you’d like, as long as it’s Extra Virgin!
Now, the ingredient that makes this bread unique: the wine. A dry, white wine is called for, and ideally you’d use a Trebbiano D’Abruzzo. However, I’ve been told by wine-shop experts that it’s hard to get a good Trebbiano in North America, although a local, wine-focused store did carry what they consider to be one of the few good, exported Trebbianos. So, huzzah for me! If you’re not as fortunate, a pinot grigio will be fine. And don’t worry about your bread tasting like booze; in my opinion, it adds a very light flavor, but also gives some of that slightly fermented, bready taste that yeast usually gives to leavened breads. I should note though that in some parts of Chieti, people make their pizza scima with simply water, or a mixture of half wine and half water.
As mentioned before, pizza scima was developed by Jewish settlers to the Chieti province of Abruzzo, in south-central Italy. These settlers came to the region between the 13th and 17th-centuries, and are also credited by some, with inventing the iconic trabocchi fishing machines, which can still be seen up and down the Adriatic coast in Abruzzo and neighboring Molise.
A trabocco in the Molisan city of Termoli. My wife & I travelled through Abruzzo & Molise on our honeymoon (when I took this picture).
Although now named pizza scima, it’s likely that the name is actually an evolution of the name pizza acime which simply translates to “unleavened pizza” in a provincal dialect. While certainly, pizza acime is a more descriptive name, there’s something nice about sitting around with your friends, drinking wine (or whatever you want) and tearing into some “silly pizza”.
And that’s the cool thing about pizza scima, it’s designed to be shared and dipped! The cuts in the surface aren’t just for aesthetics or even baking, it’s so you can tear off little sections, dip them in some sauce, or eat them with some meat and/or cheese, or just pop it in your mouth on its own! Honestly, it would probably go with almost any Italian dish you can think of, and plenty of non-Italian dishes too.
While the ingredient list is simple, actually making pizza scima almost as straightforward. Simply add the flour to a bowl, form a well in the center (although this may not be strictly necessary) and add the other ingredients and mix everything together until you’ve got a dough. Then this dough only really needs a few minutes of kneading to come together. Some perfectionists will say you want a perfectly smooth dough, but I always say, “Don’t let perfect stand in the way of good,” so as long as the dough is relatively smooth and can be easily rolled out to about 1.5 to 2cm, you’re good. Of course, you can do this all with a stand-mixer if you want. It’s your kitchen, not mine!
What’s more, you don’t have to let this dough rest before rolling it out! I mean, you certainly can if you want to, but you don’t need to. There’s lots of methods for the actual baking, but what I found works best is to cook for 12 minutes on the lowest rack, and 15 minutes on the middle rack. I think this method is meant to replicate the traditional cooking method, of baking on a hearth, covered with a copper lid, which is itself covered with embers to get even cooking on the top and bottom.
Credit: terredeitrabocchi/IG
I really hope you enjoy this recipe! It’s become one of my personal favorites that I’ve made since started learning about ancestral dishes, and is getting a lot of mileage this holiday season!
Pizza Scima
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Besides salt, you can experiment adding different herbs in the dough and on top of the pizza scima.
