In the fall of 2015, I was at a market in Florence with Jane and saw an unusual flatbread topped with black grapes called "schiacciata all'uva" (pronounced ska-CHA-ta). I bought a piece because I'd heard of it but had never tasted it. It was intensely grape-y and delicious even with the slight crunch of seeds which were neither tough nor bitter. I learned later that this treat is found in Italy only in October when the right grapes are available.
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| Schiacciata all'uva at the Mercato Centrale in Florence. |
The idea of using fruit on pizza was in the back of my mind when fresh cranberries appeared in my grocery store around Christmas. I had wanted to make something inspired by "schiaccata all'uva" and cranberries seemed appropriate, if a bit unusual. Although not as sweet as grapes, they compensate with flavour AND they're grown here in BC.
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| It inspired this experiment using cranberry sauce. |
Canned cranberries might work for the sauce but I recommend using fresh. In fact, you could even put raw cranberries directly on the pizza dough, cover them with cheese and bake it that way but the berries will tend to roll off so it's better to make them into sauce first. I've made sauce by simmering fresh cranberries with a little water and sugar and I've simmered berries with a little maple syrup and no water. All have turned out great but if you're trying this the first time I would recommend simmering a 12 ounce package of berries with a cup of water and 1/2 cup sugar (enough for more than two 10" pizzas) until the berries pop. That's half the sugar suggested for cranberry sauce on the package.
I've made this without cheese but I prefer it with cheese. My favourite combination is with blue cheese and a little shredded mozzarella. The strong flavour of blue cheese goes really well with cranberries. In fact, it's delicious on other fruit pizzas as I will blog about later. I've used it with blueberries, peaches, nectarines, and black grapes.
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| This version has blue and mozzarella cheeses. |
Recipe
This is just a variation on my basic pizza recipe which you can download at
For a 10 inch cranberry pizza, I used the following topping:
- 150 gm cranberry sauce (e.g. according to a package direction or cranberries simmered with a bit of maple syrup as in the photo below)
- 60 gm blue cheese
- 60 gm shredded mozzarella
and baked it at 500 degrees F for 7 minutes.
I've baked pizza on solid sheets, sheets with punched holes, stones and screens. For everyday baking when I'm using a kitchen oven I prefer a simple mesh screen.
I used to think that pizza was any flatbread with tomatoes and cheese regardless of other ingredients and that focaccia was flatbread without tomatoes and cheese. However, on trips to Italy I've seen focaccia with tomato topping, I've seen flatbread without cheese labelled "pizza" and I've seen regional names like "schiachiata" used for something that I would have called "focaccia". Although confusing, this adds to the charm of being a food tourist. The variety of food and food names between Italian regions and even between towns is part of the fun.
Until someone comes up with a better name, it seems to me that since tomatoes are a fruit, it's not too much of a stretch to call any flatbread baked with fruit and cheese "pizza". An added justification is that the variety of fruit and cheese combinations I've tried have turned out delicious and worthy of the name.
Here are some steps in making what I call "cranberry pizza".
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| 1) These cranberries were simmered with a little maple syrup and placed on dough. 2) Blue cheese and mozzarella were added. Edges were turned up to prevent overflow. 3) After baking at 500 F for 7 minutes. |
For more ideas, do a Google search for "schiaccata all'uva" or "cranberry pizza" and click the Images tab.
