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X Italian Breads and Pizzas
focaccia alla tedesca
Focaccia alla tredesca (German-style cake made with eggs, sugar, bread crumbs, candied fruit and sultanas)
Originated from: Italy and Germany
Occasion: Any time
Contributed by: Taken from "La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene" compilato da Pellegrino Artusi (1891, 1907)

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Ingredients

4 eggs, separated
120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of sugar
10 grams (about 1 ounce) of candied fruit, in very small pieces
120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of fine bread crumbs
30 grams (about 1 ounce) of sultanas
touch of lemon zest

for sprinkling
Powdered sugar

Equipment needed
A baking pan when used the batter will be 2 fingers high, greased with butter, dusted with flour or bread crumbs

Original Italian text
Zucchero, grammi 120
Candito a pezzettini, grammi 30
pangrattato fine, grammi 120
uva sultanina, grammi 30
uova, n. 4
odore di scorza di limone



Directions

First blend the egg yolks with the sugar until nearly white.

Add the bread crumbs, then the candied fruit and the sultanas, and lastly the egg whites, beaten stiff.

Blend the egg whites don't go flat, and when the mixture blended.

Pour the batter into a baking pan greased with butter and dusted with flour or bread crumbs, the batter should be about 2 fingers high.

Bake in the oven.

After baked, sprinkle it wit powdered sugar; this cake will look like a sponge cake.



Original Italian text

Lavorate prima i rossi d'uovo con lo zucchero finche sieno divenuti quasi bianchi; aggiungete il pangrattato, poi il candite e l'uva, e per ultimo le chiare montate ben sode. Mescolate adgio per non smontarle e quando il composto sara tutto unito versatelo in una teglia imburrata e infarinata o spolverizzata di pangratiato, ove alzi due dita circa, e cuocetela al forno; questo dolce prendera l'apparenza del pan di Spagna che spolverizzerte, dopo cotto, di zucchero a velo. Se dovesse servire per dieci o dodici persone radoppiate la dose.


Notes

The recipe in this entry was taken from "La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene manuale Pratico per le Famiglie" compilato da Pellegrino Artusi. The book was first published in 1891. Since then many Italian editions have been published. Olga Ragusa's selection of recipes from Pellegrino Artusi's famous cookbook, titled "The Italian Cook Book," can be found in its entirety at www.archive.org (It's free). The University of Toronto recently published a new English edition of Pellegrino Artusi's "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well"; many of the recipes in this edition can be found at www.books.google.ca.... P.S. Nowadays, in North America, "focaccia" generally is associated with tomato-free pizzas, but it seems back in the 19th century "focaccia" could mean a flat bread or a thin cake. Anyway, I tried this recipe, curious to know what a cake made with bread crumbs rather than flour would taste like, and to my surprise, the taste was acceptable. In his notes Pellegrino Artusi says that this cake has the feel and look of a sponge cake. The cake I came up with, using the ingredients suggested in his recipe, had a nice flavor, but it did not appear in any way like a sponge cake. The texture was rather thick, and didn't have that lightness that is expected from a sponge cake. If one is looking for a cake that doesn't use processed wheat flour, this might be of interest. Comments and photo: Mary Melfi.

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