Napa Valley Grape Schiacciata

A rustic harvest flatbread in which whole wine grapes are pressed into olive oil dough and baked until the fruit collapses into jammy, caramelised pools. Brought to California by Italian immigrant winemakers, it became the signature bread of the Napa Valley vendemmia: the autumn grape harvest. The best versions use Zinfandel or Muscat grapes, whose high sugar content concentrates beautifully in the oven.

Origin: Napa Valley, California, USA

From the journey of Grapes.

The tradition of baking bread with grapes at harvest time is ancient; schiacciata all'uva has been made in Tuscany since at least the medieval period. Italian immigrants who settled in the Napa Valley from the 1880s onward brought the practice with them. After the Judgment of Paris in 1976 cemented Napa's global reputation, winery restaurants and harvest festivals adopted this bread as a symbol of the valley's Italian viticultural roots.

Ingredients

  • 400 g strong white bread flour
  • 7 g instant yeast (1 sachet)
  • 260 ml warm water
  • 60 ml extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for the tin
  • 8 g fine sea salt
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • 400 g red wine grapes (Zinfandel, Muscat or Concord), halved and deseeded
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • for finishing Flaky sea salt
  • 1 tbsp honey

Method

  1. Combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add warm water and olive oil and mix to a shaggy dough.
  2. Turn out and knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Return to the bowl, cover, and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour until doubled.
  3. Generously oil a 30 x 20cm baking tin. Press the dough into the tin, stretching it to the edges. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
  4. Press half the halved grapes firmly into the surface of the dough with your fingertips, distributing evenly. Tuck rosemary sprigs between the grapes.
  5. Leave to prove uncovered for a further 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 220°C (200°C fan).
  6. Press the remaining grapes into the surface. Drizzle generously with olive oil and scatter with flaky salt.
  7. Bake for 22–25 minutes until the dough is golden at the edges and the grapes are blistered and jammy.
  8. Remove from the oven and immediately drizzle with honey. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting. Best eaten the day it is made.
The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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