Scaccia vs Tuo Cutlery Bread Knife

Mar 11

Mar 11 Scaccia vs Tuo Cutlery Bread Knife

Have you heard of Scaccia? It's a ridiculously delicious Sicilian stuffed bread in the calzone family and popular street food in Italy. When Tuo Cutlery sent me their gorgeous bread knife to review (check out that lovely handle), I thought this Scaccia would be the perfect test for it.

Scaccia loaves are crusty and blistered on the outside with soft, delicate layers on the inside. The layers are created by spreading tomato sauce over very thinly rolled out dough, sprinkling cheese (or other toppings) across, then folding it over on itself. You repeat that process three times, earning the bread it's nickname: Lasagna Bread.

To really test the knife, I made a tomato sauce (recipe below) that included Kalamata olives and slices of garlic and used a generous quantity of cheese, of course. How would this bread knife cut through all of these different textures?

Since I obviously like to take pictures of my baking projects, I was a little nervous to cut into the loaf with an unknown quantity. A dull blade would simply squash the bread, ruining 4 hours of bread-making – not to mention dinner. But as you can see, using a gently sawing motion, I cleanly sliced right through the loaf multiple times. The top stayed perfectly intact, no tearing or smushing, and even the little pieces of garlic and olive stayed with their slice. Since the knife was already out, I also used it to chiffonade some basil and it worked surprisingly well for that unintended use. The knife feels comfortable in the hand, is a nice sturdy weight, and at their affordable price-point I don't think you could go wrong. Just make sure you keep it nice and sharp!

Keep scrolling for more on the Scaccia itself.

Scaccia Recipe

How I made it:

For the dough, assembly and baking:
I followed this King Arthur Baking recipe as written. It makes 1, 9-inch loaf. They include easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions complete with photos.
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/scaccia-recipe

For the tomato sauce:
I created my own robust tomato sauce for the filling (recipe below). It's thick, garlicky and tangy and worked perfectly with the dough. Plus, it's a little simpler to execute – no blender required!

For the cheese:
I used a mix of aged Romano (5 ounces) and grated fresh Parmesan cheeses (3 ounces).

Scaccia Tomato Sauce Ingredients:

14.5 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 TBSP olive oil
¼ tsp red wine vinegar
2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
¼ tsp fine salt (more to taste)
¼ tsp red chili flakes
6-8 Kalamata olives, pitted and finely diced
1 bunch fresh basil (4 or 6 medium / large leaves)

Instructions:

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a small or medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 15-20 minutes to let the crushed tomatoes absorb the garlic and other flavors. Stir regularly to prevent burning. Set aside and let cool while you make the bread, or do ahead and refrigerate until you make the bread.

My husband Dan and I absolutely loved this robustly flavored loaf, and even though it was a bit of a project, I will absolutely make it again. We had it for dinner with just a side of blistered green beans and were perfectly happy! Leftovers were great the next day. I just toasted some slices and we had them with a simple salad. Molto bene :)