Coca with grilled vegetables

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

For all those of you who are pizza lovers, focaccias and flatbreads, we're going to make you very happy. We have another fantastic option to make at home so you can enjoy lunches or dinners in no time at all: cocas. And to be more exact, we'll show you how to make the Recapte Flatbread.

The word coca comes from the Dutch word “kok” from the era of the Carolingian Empire and has the same roots as the word Cake or Cake, with the latter being “cake”.

The supposed origin says it came about from the need to make use of leftover bread dough instead of throwing it away. Women baked those flattened scraps, sprinkling sugar on top to serve them as dessert.

The word "coca" covers a wide variety of preparations. It is used as the name for flatbreads, pastries, and/or cakes. They are eaten throughout Catalonia, Aragon, the Valencian Community, the Balearic Islands, and Andorra. They are usually enjoyed on holidays such as Saint John's Eve, Easter, and Christmas. Although we should not, under any circumstances, rule out enjoying them during the rest of the year. They are delicious.

The savory coca is a simple way to serve dishes with a long tradition throughout the Mediterranean. In addition, is considered the mother of the focaccia and Italian pizzas.

There are countless sweet and savory recipes you can make. This time, we’ll make a coca de recapte, which means “provisions” taken to the countryside for an afternoon snack. A dough that is crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, covered with escalivada and sardines marinated in oil and rosemary.

Few things so simple and delicious will bring us so much enjoyment.

Anti-drip glass oil dispenser and bread knife by Opinel.

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 250gr of very strong flour W=340
• 0.6 g of dry baker's yeast or 1.8 g of fresh yeast
• 2gr of sugar
• 8gr of salt
• 175g of lukewarm water

For the filling:

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

Preparation

First day

Assemble the vegetables:

1. Preheat the oven to 190ºC with air.
2. We wash and dry the red peppers and the eggplant.
3. In a baking traylined with aluminum foil, place the red peppers and the eggplant on it and put it in the oven.
4. We leave around 50-60 minutes, they should take on a light golden color on the outside, the flesh should be tender, and we should be able to remove the skin without any trouble.
5. At the halfway point of cooking, open the oven, stand back from the door because a lot of steam will be released, and carefully, using a pair of tongs, turn the peppers over to finish cooking.
6. We remove, insert into a glass bowlCover with plastic wrap and let cool completely overnight. This will make the peppers much easier to peel.

Clean and marinate the sardines:

1. Eviscerate the sardines, removing the guts and heads.
2. We descale Scale the sardines. If we don't have a fish scaler for this, that's fine. Place a large colander in the kitchen sink, where all the scales will fall, and clean the sardines under cold water using your hands. Scrape against the direction of the scales.
3. We wash very well under cold water and dry with paper towels.
4. We open the sardine, remove the central vein and cut in half lengthwise. Cut off the beards with the help of a sharp knife or scissors.
5. Introduce the sardine fillets into a airtight glass container with the skin side down. Season with salt, place a few fresh rosemary leaves on top, and cover with oil.
6. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Prepare the coca dough:

1. In a medium bowl we add the dry ingredients and we mix.
2. We add the water and mix until we get a smooth mixture, that is, until there are no traces of dry flour on the surface (see photo below).
3. Cover with plastic wrap 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 it will look slightly deflated.
2. We 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 ends toward the center, turn the dough over, and shape it into a ball, making sure to create tension.
4. Sprinkle with flour and let rest for 25 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven 30 minutes before before putting in the coca, we will do it at 270ºC with top and bottom heat. If your oven does not reach that temperature, that's okay; set it to the highest temperature it allows you to work with.

Pre-shaping and dough resting

We shape the coca:

1. Proceed to stretch the dough on a floured surface, trying not to handle or flatten it too much. We should shape it and stretch it carefully and gently.
2. We will form a rectangle of 35 x 17 cm approximately.
3. If the dough offers some resistance and shrinks back, it's because it has tension. Let it relax for about 5-10 minutes, always covered to prevent it from drying out, and continue shaping it.
4. We transfer the coca dough to a table or tray lined with baking paper and lightly dusted with flour.
5. Arrange strips of peppers and eggplant, alternating them.
6. Colocamos the sardines, drizzle with a little olive oil, Flaked salt and fresh rosemary.
7. Before putting the coca in the oven, turn the grill on to maximum power. Depending on your oven, it will have several heat power options. In my case, I set it to the maximum.
8. Around baked 11-12 minutes or until the coca is a nice golden brown.
9. Remove, sprinkle with a little chopped parsley, and let cool for a few minutes on a grille before tasting it.

Stretching the dough

NOTES

• Yes, is it essential to use very strong flour for this recipe? Yes. We need to work with a very strong flour that allows us to add high hydration and achieve the results we show you. Likewise, this type of flour will be able to withstand long, extended fermentation times.
• This dough does not need kneading for the gluten to develop, it will be enough to mix the ingredients well (until there are no traces of dry flour left) and let it rise with peace of mind.
• We should check the dough after 16–18 hours, especially if it’s a warm time of year because it will rise faster. If that’s the case, once it has reached this point, you should store it in the refrigerator until it is ready to be used.
• If we want to prepare the dough days in advance or if we make a larger batch for later days, after 18-24 hours, we put the dough in the refrigerator and let it rest for a maximum of four days. It is not worth freezing the dough due to the short time its preparation process takes.
• Whenever you refrigerate the dough you should bring it to room temperature about 2 hours beforehand to prepare to perform it.
• To bake it, you can use either a steel griddle or baking stone`, place it in the center of the oven and remember that we must preheat with it inside. If you do not have either of these two items, bake on a baking tray that has been preheated beforehand.
• Important note regarding how to bake with the grill. A baking distance must be maintained between the coca (especially if it has paper on the base) and the grill. The distance must not be less than 20 cm because there is a risk that the paper may catch fire, in case your oven does not maintain this distance It will be better to proceed with baking without the grill. To get a golden-brown crust, simply extend the final baking time and the result will still be very good.
• Remember that every oven is different; yours may need a little more or less cooking time. Keep an eye on it the first time you make it so you can determine the exact timing. It may take around 7-12 minutes in total.
• I used fresh sardines because I consider the final result to be considerably better. If you use this type of sardine, freeze them beforehand to prevent the possible presence of anisakis.
• If you marinate the sardines By doing so, you’ll greatly enhance the flavors. In my case, I chose fresh rosemary, but you can make it with whichever herbs you prefer.
• Can I use canned sardines instead of fresh ones? Yes, you can, but the result will not be the same. Not even close.
• Don't let the bad reputation of the smell of sardines when cooking them put you off. When you prepare them this way, hardly any smell will come from the oven.
• Can I use another type of canned fish instead of sardines? Yes, too it is usually served with anchovies. If you choose this ingredient, Don't add it before baking the coca. The reason is that it greatly intensifies the salty flavor and can become unpleasant when tasting it. Arrange them on the coca once we have taken it out of the oven and while it cools on a wire rack.

Bérard flour scoop, Porcelain Bowl Seigaiha Tokyo Studio, crystal glass Mediterránea, Mediterranean glass bowl and Drip-free glass oil dispenser.

This savory flatbread with roasted vegetables can solve many dinners or unexpected situations for us; with the dough ready (which we can prepare in advance “just in case”), in just over 15 minutes we'll be enjoying a wonderful dish.

We can't wait to see yours!