Rialto Restaurant & Bar

CARTA di MUSICA

Makes 8 pieces, about 8 inches across, or 16 pieces half that size

The dough is made from a combination of all-purpose and semolina flours, then rolled extremely thinly, perhaps explaining why the Sardinians named it “sheet music.”  It can serve as a simple starter, matched only with a bowl of good olives, or as a base for salads.  It absorbs the flavors but remains crisp.

 

Do ahead: You can prepare the dough up to three days in advance.  Follow the recipe up to the dough’s first resting period.  Enclose the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you’re ready to finish the recipe. If you don’t have a pizza stone or baking tiles, you can cook the bread on a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal.

 

1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour, plus additional for rolling out the dough

½ cup semolina flour

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup warm water (plus slightly more, as necessary)

Cornmeal for dusting pizza peel

 

Preheat oven, containing a pizza stone or unglazed baking tiles, to 450o.  (If you don’t have either of these, just preheat the over here.  When it comes time to bake the bread, put it on backing sheets dusted with cornmeal.)

Mix the flour, semolina and salt in a mixing bowl.  Gradually add water to form dough.  You may need slightly more or less than the ¾ cup.  The object is to add enough water to make a quite soft, solid mass of dough (softer, say, than pizza dough), but not to add so much water that the dough becomes sticky rather than tacky.  You may not need all the water.  Knead the dough until it becomes elastic and smooth, about 3 minutes.  Form it into a ball, enclose it in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least two hours.  Refrigerate the wrapped dough if it will be resting longer than two hours.

After the dough has rested, unwrap it and divide it into 8 balls of equal size, cover with a towel and let rest 10 minutes.

Using plenty of flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling surface, roll each ball into a very thin circle, approximately 8 to 9 inches across.  You should be able to read through the circle.

One at a time, transfer the parchment bread circles to a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal and slide them onto the pizza stone in the oven.  Slide as many circles onto the stone or tiles as will fit comfortably without touching and cook about 1 minute on each side, or until golden and crispy.  They’re easy to turn over with a pair of tongs.  Remove from oven and cool.  Repeat until all the circles are cooked.  Carta di Musica can be stored for about 3 days in an airtight container.  If you like, crisp it in an oven before serving.