Coca with grilled vegetables

Eva, author of Bake-Street, brings us the recipe to make coca de recapte. A coca full of tradition, which although we show with its classic filling of escalivada with sardines, you can adapt and serve the coca savory or sweet to your liking.

For all of you who love pizzas, focaccias and flatbreads we are going to give you a treat. We have another fantastic option to prepare at home so you can enjoy lunches or dinners in no time, cocas. And to be more precise, we will show you how to make the Coca de Recapte.

The word coca comes from the Dutch word “kok” from the time of the Carolingian Empire and shares the same roots as the word Cake or Kuchen, the latter meaning “cake”.

Its supposed origin says it arose from the need to make use of leftover bread dough instead of discarding it. Women baked those flattened scraps, sprinkling sugar on top to serve them as a dessert.

The word “coca” covers a wide variety of preparations. It is used to name flatbreads, pastries and/or cakes. They are eaten throughout Catalonia, Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands and Andorra. They are usually consumed on holidays such as St. John’s Eve, Easter and Christmas. Although we should by no means rule out enjoying them the rest of the year. They are delicious.

The savory coca is a simple way to present traditional dishes across the Mediterranean. Additionally, it is considered the mother of focaccia and Italian pizzas.

You can make countless variations, both sweet and savory. On this occasion we will prepare a coca de recapte, which means “provision” taken to the countryside for a picnic. A crusty exterior and a fluffy interior, topped with escalivada and sardines marinated in oil and rosemary.

Few things as simple and tasty will give us so much enjoyment.

Drip-proof glass oil cruet and Opinel bread knife.

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 250gr high-protein flour W=340
• 0.6gr dry baker's yeast or 1.8gr fresh yeast
• 2gr sugar
• 8gr salt
• 175gr lukewarm water

For the filling:

• 2 red peppers
• 1 large eggplant
• 2 fresh sardines
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Fresh rosemary
• Fresh parsley

Preparation

First day

We roast the vegetables:

1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC with fan.
2. Wash and dry the red peppers and the eggplant.
3. On a baking tray, lined with aluminum foil, place the red peppers and the eggplant and put into the oven.
4. Leave for around 50-60 minutes, they should take on a light toasted color on the outside, the flesh should be tender and you will be able to remove the skin without problems.
5. Halfway through cooking open the oven, stand back from the door because a lot of steam will be released, and carefully using tongs, turn the peppers to finish cooking.
6. Remove, place in a glass bowl, cover with cling film and let cool completely overnight. This way it will be much easier to peel the peppers.

We clean and marinate the sardines:

1. Gut them, remove the entrails and head of the sardines.
2. Descale the sardines. If you don’t have a scaler, that’s fine. Place a large colander in the kitchen sink to catch all the scales, and clean the sardines under cold water using your hands. Scrape against the direction of the scales.
3. Wash very well under cold water and dry with kitchen paper.
4. Open the sardine, remove the central bone and cut lengthwise in half. Trim the barbels with a sharp knife or scissors.
5. Place the sardine fillets in an airtight glass container skin-side down. Salt, add some fresh rosemary sprigs and cover with oil.
6. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

We prepare the coca dough:

1. In a medium bowl add the dry ingredients and mix.
2. Add the water and mix until you obtain a homogeneous mixture, that is, until there are no dry traces of flour on the surface (see photo below).
3. Cover with cling film and let rise for 18-24 hours at room temperature.

Second day

1. Our dough will be bubbly, will have increased in size and will have settled, meaning you’ll see it has a slightly deflated appearance.
2. Dust the work surface with flour, turn the dough out onto it and proceed to pre-shape it.
3. Fold by bringing each of the four edges toward the center, flip the dough and round it up trying to create tension.
4. Dust with flour and let rest for 25 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven 30 minutes before placing the coca in it, set it to 270ºC with top and bottom heat. If your oven cannot reach that temperature, no problem, set it to the highest temperature it allows.

Pre-shaping and resting the dough

Shape the coca:

1. Proceed to stretch the dough on a floured surface taking care not to handle or flatten it excessively. You should shape and stretch it with care and attention.
2. Form a rectangle of about 35 x 17 cm approximately.
3. If the dough offers some resistance and retracts, it is because it has tension. Let it relax for about 5-10 minutes, always covered to avoid drying out, and then continue shaping it.
4. Transfer the coca dough to a board or tray lined with parchment paper and lightly dusted with flour.
5. Arrange strips of pepper and eggplant alternating them.
6. Place the sardines, drizzle with a little olive oil, flake salt and fresh rosemary.
7. Before placing the coca in the oven, turn the grill to maximum power. Depending on your oven it will have several options for heat intensity. In my case I set it to the maximum.
8. Bake for around 11-12 minutes or until the coca has a lovely golden color.
9. Remove, sprinkle a little chopped parsley and let cool for a few minutes on a rack before tasting.

Stretching the dough

NOTES

• Is it essential to use high-protein flour for this recipe? Yes. We must work with a strong flour that allows us to add high hydration and achieve the results we show. Likewise this type of flour will be able to tolerate long and prolonged fermentation times.
• This dough does not require kneading to develop the gluten, it will be enough to properly incorporate the ingredients (until no dry flour remains) and let it rise calmly.
• You should check the dough after 16-18 hours, especially if it is a warm time of year because it will rise faster. If that happens, once it reaches this point, you should store it in the refrigerator until ready to use.
• If you want to prepare the dough days in advance or make a larger batch for later days, after 18-24 hours, place the dough in the refrigerator and let rest for up to four days. It is not worth freezing the dough due to the short time the process takes.
• Whenever you refrigerate the dough you should bring it to room temperature for about 2 hours before shaping it.
• To bake it, you can use either a steel griddle or baking stone, place it in the center of the oven and remember to preheat with it inside. If you don’t have either of these two items, bake on a preheated baking tray.
• Important note about baking with the grill. You must respect a baking distance between the coca (especially if it has paper on the base) and the grill. The distance should not be less than 20 cm because there is a risk that the paper may catch fire, if your oven does not respect this distance it is better to proceed with baking without the grill. To obtain a toasted edge, simply extend the final baking time and the result will still be very good.
• Remember that every oven is different, yours may need a bit more or less cooking time. Watch it the first time you make it to work with the exact time. It can range around 7-12 minutes total.
• I used fresh sardines because I consider the final result to be considerably better. If using this type of sardine, freeze them beforehand to prevent possible presence of anisakis.
• If you marinate the sardines you will greatly enhance the flavors. In my case I chose fresh rosemary, but you can use whichever aromatics you prefer.
• Can I use canned sardines instead of fresh? Yes, you can, but the result will not be the same. Not even close.
• Do not be put off by the bad reputation of the smell of sardines when cooking. When prepared this way, hardly any smell will come from the oven.
• Can I use another type of canned fish instead of sardines? Yes, it is also common to serve it with anchovies. If you choose this ingredient, do not add them before baking the coca. The reason is that the salty flavor intensifies greatly and they can become unpleasant to eat. Place them on the coca once it is out of the oven and while it cools on a rack.

Bérard flour spoon, Seigaiha Tokyo Studio porcelain bowl, Mediterránea glass cup, Mediterránea glass bowl and drip-proof glass oil cruet.

This coca de recapte can solve many dinners or unexpected guests for you; with the dough ready (which you can prepare in advance “just in case”) in a little over 15 minutes you will be enjoying a wonderful dish.

We can’t wait to see yours!