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Coca

Printed From: Foods of the World Forum
Category: Europe
Forum Name: The Iberian Peninsula
Forum Discription: Spain, Portugal and diverse influences such as Moorish, Celtic and Basque.
URL: http://foodsoftheworld.ActiveBoards.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=733
Printed Date: 26 March 2026 at 21:49


Topic: Coca
Posted By: Guests
Subject: Coca
Date Posted: 04 August 2010 at 16:04

This dish's recipe is from the Balearic Islands (islands off the coast of Spain) and I found it in our Culinaria Spain cookbook.

 

It’s a baked flatbread they call “coca” which is their local word for cake. The introduction for it says:

 

Bread is a staple food, and this is taken seriously on the Balearic Islands. Here, baking is seen as an important skill, and coca is regular fare. There are all sorts of variations: with yeast and without, with egg and without. The base can be wafer-thin or voluptuously well risen. The filling spread on it varies across the range: vegetables, as a first course, sardines, as a main course, or a sweet filling, as a dessert.

           As I learned while making it, bread making is a very important skill to have. Although it is somewhat difficult, it is definitely not as complicated as I had thought.

                For coca, you have to make the dough first. We started by proofing the yeast by adding it to warm water with a pinch of sugar.

 

 

 

I stirred it up and let it sit on the stove top under the overhead light until it had doubled in size. Meanwhile, I scooped 9 cups of flour into a bowl and made a well in the center big enough to fit all of the yeast. The yeast was then mixed with the flour along with some olive oil, white wine, and water.

 

 

I kneaded it into a "smooth dough". I hadn't known exactly what that meant until making this dough. We proofed it again, this time in the oven. During the wait we prepared the coca toppings. Here are the goods:

 

 

Each one would get a spinach base, so I washed and chopped the spinach.

 

 

One of the smaller cocas was going to have pine nuts, white raisins, and pineapple. We soaked the raisins so they wouldn't get too dried and shriveled in the oven. The second small coca would have vegetables and sprats. The biggest coca was going to be all-veggie, so we prepared the onions, peppers, and tomatoes. The last two cocas would each need a healthy amount of garlic, so I crushed some up.

 

 

 Finally the dough had doubled in size, so I cut it in half.

 

 

I then cut one of those halves in half so that we had 3 dough balls for 3 different cocas. Each was then rolled out and patted into crusts of varying thicknesses. Instead of using baking sheets, we decided to use stones so the crust would cook evenly. They were wrapped in foil and buttered for the coca dough to go on top. I poked holes into the dough and brushed olive oil over top before sprinkling the spinach on.

 

I topped the all-veggie coca with peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic, and artichoke hearts. This one was made on a thick crust.

Next was the sprat coca with garlic, onions, and peppers. This one was a thin crust.

 

 

 

And finally, the pineapple, pine nut, raisin coca. This crust was also thick.

 

 

 

They each cooked for about 30 minutes. The veggie coca was ready first, so that was our first course.

 

 

 

The sprats had gone in second, so they came out as our second course. This one was a bit crunchier than the other two because its crust wasn't as thick.

 

 

 

And the pineapple coca was the last. They were all delicious




Replies:
Posted By: TasunkaWitko
Date Posted: 04 August 2010 at 16:16
excellent! and great pictures, too, especially that last one! i know what you mean about the learning curve for the "smooth dough." it takes a bit of trying ~
 
this looks very similar to italy's focaccia. i posted an unleavened http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/forum_posts.asp?TID=59&title=tasunkawitkos-focaccia-al-Formaggio-di-recco - recipe for focaccia al formaggio di Recco there if you'd like to give it a try. it is very easy but if you want to try it and have questions, just ask.


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Posted By: kiwi
Date Posted: 04 August 2010 at 16:26
Is there a defining feature that marks this as different from a pizza? Looks really good anyway, specially the pine nut one - I love pine nuts, can't really afford them though. A pack of pine nuts here costs maybe a third of what I'd spend on food for a normal week!

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kai time!


Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 05 August 2010 at 08:16
Originally posted by kiwi kiwi wrote:

Is there a defining feature that marks this as different from a pizza? Looks really good anyway, specially the pine nut one - I love pine nuts, can't really afford them though. A pack of pine nuts here costs maybe a third of what I'd spend on food for a normal week!
 
Good grief Kiwi, that's incredible for pignole. Even with transoceanic shipping it would still be cheaper to do an exchange at those prices!
 
A big difference from pizza is that there is no "sauce" per se, just olive oil, and certainly no cheese. As Tas said, it's much more kin to foccaccia, and was perfectly delicious! I liked the thinner crust of coca, it just seemed more to go better for me - though I prefer a thick crust pizza (go figure). The spratz one was definitely a winner.


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Posted By: Boilermaker
Date Posted: 05 August 2010 at 18:21
Marvelous!  They all look wonderful but that sprat coca looks to be to die for.Wink


Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 05 August 2010 at 18:57
Thanks everyone. I looked at the focaccia al formaggio, and you're right. It does look easier, especially with that bread machine Smile I would like to try it though.

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Posted By: Boilermaker
Date Posted: 05 August 2010 at 19:17
Those are some great looking sprats.  I'm crazy for smoked fishes, sardines and all tinned fishes really, what is the brand and where are they imported from?


Posted By: kiwi
Date Posted: 05 August 2010 at 19:17
Originally posted by Rivet Rivet wrote:

Originally posted by kiwi kiwi wrote:

Is there a defining feature that marks this as different from a pizza? Looks really good anyway, specially the pine nut one - I love pine nuts, can't really afford them though. A pack of pine nuts here costs maybe a third of what I'd spend on food for a normal week!
 
Good grief Kiwi, that's incredible for pignole. Even with transoceanic shipping it would still be cheaper to do an exchange at those prices!


You might be suprised, I spend bugger-all on food - biggest expense is cheese, and occasionally out of season stuff when I just can't wait to try things. Garden + fish and game means that I only buy dairy and cereals really. Oh, and canned tomato... but at sub $1 a can its barely worth mentioning. And spices - super cheap from indian supermarkets.



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kai time!


Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 06 August 2010 at 05:44
Originally posted by Boilermaker Boilermaker wrote:

Those are some great looking sprats.  I'm crazy for smoked fishes, sardines and all tinned fishes really, what is the brand and where are they imported from?
They are RIGA brand from Latvia. The can is in two languages and they are triple A quality. The fish are all uniform in size, perfectly cleaned and gutted and over the years have yet to get a single scale left on (which I cannot say for other foreign canned-fish). I can get them at the local grocery store any time.

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Posted By: Boilermaker
Date Posted: 06 August 2010 at 07:12
I'm going to stop by Whole Foods today and see if I can find those, they look wonderful.


Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 14 August 2010 at 20:08
Hey did you ever find the sprats? If you didn't no worries; I'll put some cans in your package when I send you the salsa and stuff!

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Posted By: Boilermaker
Date Posted: 14 August 2010 at 20:18
I've looked everywhere for them, including Whole Foods, and can't find them anywhere, very disappointed, please do send me a few cans!  You are a saint for doing that!  Most appreciated!

Andy



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