Flat Bread (Spianata) Bursting with Grapes for the Madonna of the Harvest

Ingredients: 
2 C seedless red grapes, rinsed and dried
1 ½ T extra virgin olive oil
2 T raw turbinado (raw) sugar (white sugar will do)
1 dough recipe (below) Spianata OR a short-cut: frozen, from a can, pre-made, or any simple pizza dough recipe

Instructions:

1. Make your dough (recipes below). Let it rise. Shape it to the stage when it is ready to bake.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Dimple the dough all over with your fingertips. Kids love to do this!
4. Push the grapes into the top of the dough. Sprinkle it with oil and sugar. Bake 10 minutes.
5. Turn your 400-degree oven down to 350 and bake another 25 minutes.
6. The bread is done when the bottom sounds hollow.  
7. Serve as an antipasti (appetizer), with the meal or as dessert.  A little red wine or grape juice rounds out the celebration in thanksgiving to the Madonna of the August Harvest. Salute!

Simple Ways to make Dough:

Frozen bread dough, pizza dough from a refrigerated tube, or ready made pizza dough from the bakery section are the simplest ways to make this grape covered bread.  Allow dough to rise and proceed with steps 3, 4, 5 below.

To make a simple pizza dough, add 1 ½ tsp yeast to 1 ¼ C warm water.  Add 1 ½ tsp sugar and 1 T olive oil and let yeast "bloom" for about 10-15 minutes.  Mix in 3 C bread flour or AP flour and knead until smooth.  Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise.  Proceed with steps 3-5  below.

Spianata Dough in 2 stages: Sponge and Dough

For the sponge:  A sponge isn’t hard to make, but takes planning.  Slow rising time equals flavor!
1 tsp yeast
1 C all purpose or bread flour
1C warm water
About 11 hours before baking the bread, blend the yeast, 2 T of the flour and ¼ C warm water in a bowl.  Let it stand 5-10 minutes or until yeast blooms (makes tiny bubbles)
Beat in the rest of the flour and water by hand, in a food processor or an electric mixer 
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let it stand at room temperature 7-12 hours.

For the dough:
2 C flour plus 2 T, as needed
1 ½ tsp salt
2 T olive oil
2 T butter or high-quality lard.  You may substitute more oil, if you like.

Directions:

1. Blend the 2 C flour and the salt in a bowl.  Add half of this flour/salt mixture to the sponge (above), along with the olive oil, lard or butter, if using.  Beat by hand or in food processor or electric mixer about 5 minutes making a very elastic dough.  Gradually beat in the rest of the flour mixture.  Knead it by hand for 10 minutes or use your machine!
2. Place this dough in an oiled bowl, seal the top with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature 2 hours, or until 1 ½ times its original size. 
3. Lightly oil a pizza pan or cookie sheet (about 14”- 16” or 11” X 13”) Punch the dough down.
4. Thin and stretch the dough to fit the pan.  A rolling pin may help.  It should be between ¼ and ½ inch thick and stretched all the way to the edge of the pan.
5. Cover the pan with a kitchen towel and let it rise again for 30 minutes or as long as 3 hours!  The dough should increase in volume and not spring back when poked with a finger, if fully risen.
6. Add topping and bake as described above.

Story:  
The grape harvest is near.  In Italy, some folks grab handfuls of red grapes to top a celebratory flat bread called “Spianata for the “Madonna of the August Harvest”.  Sprinkled with sugar, the grapes burst in the oven, creating a sweet syrup.   It's a delicious bread for August 15, the Feast of Mary’s Assumption into heaven!

The Italian vendemmia, or grape harvest is accompanied by festivals in gratitude to God and to Mother Mary for earth’s abundance.  It usually takes place in Tuscany between late August or early September and late October. The exact date depends on several factors, including weather, the location of the vineyards, and the type of grapes being harvested. For example, vineyards at lower elevations or near the coast may ripen earlier than those inland or at higher altitudes.

The grapes must also be at the right level of sweetness, with many experts saying that 80–90% of the seeds should be brown before harvest. When grapes are fully ripe, the stem can be easily pulled off with little or no pulp or skin tissue attached.

According to Mike Colameco (of the 1 minute PBS short called “The Bite”), much of Europe’s grapes budded out early this spring due to very early warm temperatures.  Later, a frost destroyed much of the budding fruit, meaning less wine from the “vendemmia” of 2024.  Other crops that flower and than produce fruit  are often lost in similar early warmth that most scientists attribute to climate change.

Much of the grape harvest lore and the recipe above come from Italian American chef Lynn Rosetto Kasper.  Lynn spent 10 years writing her best selling cookbook The Splendid Table.  Lynn researched her ancestral region of northern Italy’s Emilia Romagna region.  The book led to  broadcasting as St. Paul, MN resident Lynn helped create and host the NPR show called The Splendid Table in 1995,  "the radio program for people who love to eat".  She hosted until she retired in 2017.

Lynn Rosetto Kasper paved the way for the depth and diversity of food media today that educates about sustainability, organic, regenerative food production as well as what we do in our kitchens.  Now hosted by award-winning food writer Francis Lam, the new Splendid Table explores different cultures, cuisines and ideas, as well as the small personal stories that come out of the expansive world of the table.  Click here to hear past episodes and on the radio tab find out where and when it airs near you!