Coca

Ingredients

Dough

• 400 gstrong white flour
• 8 gfine salt
• 5 gdried yeast, or 15 g fresh
• 240 mlwarm water
• 60 mlextra virgin olive oil

Escalivada topping

• 2aubergines, about 600 g
• 2red peppers, about 400 g
• 2onions, unpeeled
• 4 tbspolive oil
• 1 tspsalt

To finish

• 8thin slices botifarra negra, or 8 salted herring fillets (arengada)
• 1 tbsppine nuts
• 2 tbspextra virgin olive oil
• flaky sea salt

Directions

1. Rub the vegetables with the 4 tbsp oil and salt, and roast at 200°C (400°F) for 45–50 minutes until the skins are blackened and blistered and the aubergines have collapsed.
2. Tip them into a covered bowl to sweat 15 minutes, then peel while warm and tear the flesh lengthways into finger-wide strips. Drain in a sieve 20 minutes, keeping the juices.
3. Meanwhile mix the flour, salt and yeast, add the water and 60 ml oil, and knead 8 minutes to a soft, slack dough. Cover and prove 1 hour until doubled.
4. Heat the oven to 250°C (475°F) with a heavy baking tray inside.
5. Roll or stretch the dough on oiled paper into a 25 x 40 cm rectangle, 4–5 mm thick, with no raised rim; a coca is flat from edge to edge.
6. Lay the drained strips over the dough in neat parallel lines, alternating aubergine, pepper and onion, and leave 1 cm bare at the edges.
7. Tuck the sausage slices or herring fillets between the strips and scatter the pine nuts.
8. Slide the coca on its paper onto the hot tray and bake 18–20 minutes, until the base is crisp enough to lift in one piece and the edges are dark gold.
9. Brush with the reserved roasting juices slaked with the last 2 tbsp of oil, scatter flaky salt, and cut into rectangles. Eat warm or at room temperature.

Technique

• A coca is not a pizza. There is no rim, no cheese and no sauce, and the topping is dressed with oil rather than bound; the dough must be thin enough to shatter.
• Draining the escalivada is the step people skip. Wet peppers release water into the dough and you get a pale, steamed base instead of a crisp one.
• Sweet and savoury cocas share the same family: the savoury ones are eaten all year, the enriched sweet ones belong to Carnival and the Sant Joan bonfires in June.

Substitutions

• No botifarra negra or arengada: use 8 anchovy fillets in oil, or leave the coca meat-free and scatter 60 g of black olives and a pinch of dried thyme.
• If you cannot fire the oven to 250°C (475°F), bake at your maximum for 22–25 minutes on a preheated stone; the base needs radiant heat from below.

Variations

• Coca de recapte, the everyday savoury one described here, with escalivada and sausage.
• Coca de llardons, sweet, studded with pork crackling, sugar and pine nuts, eaten at Carnival.
• Coca de Sant Joan, brioche-like and topped with candied fruit and pine nuts for midsummer.

History

Flat Catalan pastry, sweet or savoury; the coca de Sant Joan with candied fruit and pine nuts is eaten on Midsummer Eve.

Frequently asked questions

What is Coca?

Coca is a bread & pastry from Andorra: flat Catalan pastry, sweet or savory toppings. Flat Catalan pastry, sweet or savoury; the coca de Sant Joan with candied fruit and pine nuts is eaten on Midsummer Eve.

How long does Coca take to make?

Coca takes 35 min of preparation and 1 hr 40 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 pieces. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Coca?

Yes, within limits. No botifarra negra or arengada: use 8 anchovy fillets in oil, or leave the coca meat-free and scatter 60 g of black olives and a pinch of dried thyme. If you cannot fire the oven to 250°C (475°F), bake at your maximum for 22–25 minutes on a preheated stone; the base needs radiant heat from below.

What is the most important thing to get right in Coca?

A coca is not a pizza. There is no rim, no cheese and no sauce, and the topping is dressed with oil rather than bound; the dough must be thin enough to shatter.