Pane Carasau

Sardinian flatbread baked until it inflates, split in two, then dried crisp.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 500 g fine semolina flour
• 100 g strong white flour
• 350 ml warm water
• 7 g fresh yeast
• 12 g salt

Method

1. Mix to a firm dough and knead 15 minutes. Prove 2 hours.
2. Divide into ten pieces and roll each into a disc as thin as you can get it, 2 mm, about 25 cm across. Keep them under cloth.
3. Heat the oven as high as it goes, with a stone or steel in it, around 280C.
4. Bake one disc at a time for 2 minutes. IT WILL INFLATE LIKE A BALLOON. That is the step working, not going wrong.
5. TAKE IT OUT AND CUT ROUND THE EDGE IMMEDIATELY, separating it into TWO thin sheets. It must be done while it is too hot to hold comfortably — once it deflates and cools the two layers stick and cannot be parted.
6. Stack the sheets under a cloth as you go.
7. SECOND BAKE: return the separated sheets, weighted flat with a tray, at 200C for 4 minutes until rigid and pale. 'Carasau' is the toasting, and it is what makes them keep for months.
8. They should shatter when snapped, not bend.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes