Spanish

Coca de Recapte — Catalan Flatbread with Escalivada

A thin, oblong Catalan flatbread — half pizza, half focaccia, entirely its own thing. Topped with escalivada (oil-slick eggplant, pepper, and onion charred whole and peeled), anchovies, and olive oil. Baked on the kamado at 230 °C until the edges blister and the base crackles.

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Main · Tapa · Large-Format · Shareable
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Anchovies (light) · vegetable-centric
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4 as main · 8 as tapa (one 30 × 40 cm coca)
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24 h cold-ferment dough + 45 min active build + 15 min bake = ~26 h total, 2 h day-of

Half Pizza, Half Focaccia, Entirely Catalan

A coca is not a pizza, and every Catalan will tell you this within the first thirty seconds of conversation. A pizza is round; a coca is oblong. A pizza is a Neapolitan export that conquered the world; a coca is a Catalan holdout that most of the world has never heard of. A pizza sits on tomato; a coca sits on whatever the region happened to have that week — escalivada in most of Catalonia, sardines in the coastal villages, spinach and pine nuts in the Pyrenees, cinnamon sugar for the sweet Sant Joan variant. The base is closer to focaccia than pizza — slightly enriched with olive oil, flat and crisp rather than blistered and puffy — but the toppings are lighter and the whole thing eats as something between a flatbread and a tart.

Coca de recapte (recapte = 'ingredients on hand') is the most common savory version. Escalivada is the heart: eggplant, red pepper, and yellow onion, charred whole over live fire (this is where the kamado earns its keep) until the skins are black and the flesh inside is silky, then peeled, torn into long strips, and dressed with Arbequina and sherry vinegar. The escalivada is the star and the bread is the vehicle. Anchovies go on top for salt and umami; sometimes a few black olives. That is the entire composition. No mozzarella, no tomato sauce, no last-minute basil. The coca is the Catalan argument that you do not need to pile ingredients onto a flatbread to make it great — you need to pile the right ingredients.

The kamado is essential here. The 230 °C target temperature and the live-fire smoke produce a base that is crispy-bottomed, slightly leopard-spotted at the edges, with a hint of oak or cherry coming through. A conventional oven at 230 °C produces a perfectly good coca; a kamado at 230 °C produces one that tastes like it came from the Pyrenean village where you'd expect to find it. The escalivada benefits similarly from fire — supermarket roasted peppers from a jar would work, but peppers charred whole on the kamado have a depth of caramelized sugar and smoke that no oven-roasted version can match.

Ingredients

for 4 as main · 8 as tapa (one 30 × 40 cm coca)

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Everyday

The Dough (makes one 30 × 40 cm coca)

300 g bread flour (or all-purpose flour, though bread flour gives better chew)
195 g water (at 25–28 °C — slightly warm)
25 g EVOO
6 g kosher salt
1 g instant dry yeast (about 1/3 tsp)

The Escalivada (The Heart)

1 large eggplant (~500 g) — Italian or globe, skin-on
2 large red bell peppers, whole — stems on
1 large yellow onion — skin-on, halved through the root
2 tbsp EVOO
1 tbsp sherry vinegar (Vinagre de Jerez — Pablo has ✓)
Kosher salt

The Finish

8–10 anchovy fillets (good-quality tinned — Ortiz if possible, otherwise any cured-in-oil)
2 tbsp EVOO (for drizzle)
A few black olives, pitted and halved (optional)
Flaky sea salt
Fresh thyme or rosemary leaves (optional — 1 tsp)

Substitution Notes

No kamado? A conventional oven at 250 °C (maximum for most home ovens) produces a very respectable coca. Place a baking steel or stone on the middle rack, preheat 45 min. Broil for the final 2 min for top char.
No bread flour? All-purpose flour works. Chew will be slightly softer, not a quality problem.
Anchovy-averse? Substitute thinly sliced cured chorizo or jamón. Less traditional but delicious. Or omit entirely for a vegetable-only coca.

No Limits

The Dough

300 g Caputo 00 flour (pizzeria — the blue bag) — finer grind, higher gluten development, silkier crust
195 g filtered water at 25–28 °C
25 g Arbequina EVOO (Pablo has ✓) — single-estate, for the flavor in the dough itself
6 g Maldon salt
1 g instant dry yeast

The Escalivada — Fire-Charred

1 large eggplant from the farmers market (Homestead organic if available at Pinecrest Saturday market)
2 large red bell peppers — Holland-grown or local in season
1 large Spanish yellow onion
2 tbsp Picual EVOO (more robust than Arbequina, holds up to the charred vegetables)
1 tbsp Vinagre de Jerez Reserva (Pablo has ✓)
Maldon salt

Modern Flavor Bridge

30 g black garlic purée (3–4 cloves, mashed smooth with 1 tsp EVOO) — under the escalivada, adds sweet-Maillard umami depth that's invisible but profound
Sources: The Black Garlic Co, Regalis, or DIY (see Fermentation §Black Garlic)

The Finish — Cantabrian Salt

10 Ortiz Cantabrian anchovy fillets — the gold standard, cured 12+ months in salt, larger and cleaner than standard anchovies
3 tbsp Arbequina EVOO for finish drizzle
6 Kalamata or Aragón olives, pitted and halved
Flaky Maldon
Fresh thyme sprigs from a single plant

Infrastructure

Baking steel or pizza stone (35 × 35 cm minimum) — preheated on the kamado grate for 45 min
Pizza peel (semolina-dusted) for loading/unloading
Kamado with lump charcoal + 1–2 oak chunks for the bake phase
IR thermometer for stone surface verification (target 230 °C)

Mise en Place

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T-24 h: Dough. Mix all ingredients. 10 min autolyse. 10 min develop. Bulk ferment 1 h on counter. Fridge 24 h.
T=0 (cook day): Escalivada first. Light kamado, load with lump charcoal, target 230 °C. Add 1–2 oak or cherry wood chunks just before vegetables go on.
Vegetables whole, skin on. Onto kamado direct heat. Rotate every 5–6 min. Total char time: 25–35 min depending on size. Skins should be uniformly black.
Once charred: pepper into a paper bag (sealed, 15 min — steam loosens skin). Eggplant + onion onto a sheet pan to cool 10 min.
Peel everything. Tear peppers into 1 cm strips, eggplant into similar strips, onion into petals. Dress with Picual EVOO + sherry vinegar + salt. Rest at room temp.
Dough out of fridge 60 min before bake to temper. Baking steel/stone onto kamado grate to preheat 45 min at 230 °C.
Shape, top, load, bake.

Method

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Dough — 24-Hour Cold Ferment

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 300 g flour + 6 g salt + 1 g yeast until uniform.

Pour in 195 g warm water (25–28 °C) + 25 g EVOO. Mix with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until a shaggy mass forms — about 60 seconds. No smooth dough yet; that's expected.

Cover the bowl and rest 10 minutes . This is the autolyse — gluten begins to develop passively, hydration equilibrates.

After 10 min: with wet hands, stretch and fold the dough 8 times inside the bowl — reach under the dough at one edge, lift, stretch up, fold over the top, rotate the bowl. This develops gluten without aggressive kneading.

Cover again, rest 10 min . Stretch and fold 8 more times.

Rest on counter at room temp for 1 hour bulk ferment. Dough should nearly double — first rise, loose and airy.

Punch down gently. Transfer to an airtight container (or keep in covered bowl).

Refrigerate 24 hours. The cold slows the yeast dramatically but enzymes continue working, breaking flour proteins into amino acids and producing complex aromatic byproducts.

Kamado Fire for Escalivada

On cook day, light the kamado. Lump charcoal pyramid, fire starters. Full open vents to establish flame.

Once coals ashed over: vents to 50 percent bottom / 50 percent top. Target dome temperature 230 °C. Takes 15–20 minutes.

When approaching target: toss 1–2 oak or cherry wood chunks directly on the coals. Smoke should be thin blue, not white.

Do not preheat the baking steel yet. The steel goes on later. Right now the kamado is set up for direct-fire vegetable char at grate level.

Charring the Vegetables — The Escalivada Phase

Place the whole eggplant, whole red peppers, and halved onion (skin on, cut side up) directly on the kamado grate.

Close the lid. Turn every 5–6 minutes using tongs — the skins should be uniformly blackening on each side as you rotate.

Total time by vegetable: peppers 20–25 min (skin blackens, flesh collapses), eggplant 25–35 min (skin wrinkles and blackens, flesh fully tender — probe with a skewer: resistance-free), onion 20–25 min (outer layers charred, interior softened).

The vegetables are done when: pepper skins are entirely black and the pepper collapses when pressed; eggplant is entirely soft throughout with a charred-paper skin; onion halves have black-burnt outer rings but tender translucent interiors.

Pull each vegetable as it finishes. Pepper: into a paper bag, seal top, steam 15 min (this loosens the skin for easy peeling). Eggplant + onion: onto a sheet pan to cool 10 min at room temp.

Peel, Dress, Rest

Pepper: pull from bag after 15 min. The skin will slip off with gentle rubbing. Discard stem and seeds. Tear into 1 cm-wide strips lengthwise.

Eggplant: cut in half lengthwise. Scoop the soft flesh out with a spoon, discarding the skin. Tear into long strips.

Onion: peel off the charred outer layers (discard). Separate the soft inner layers into long petals.

Combine all three vegetables in a wide bowl. Dress with 2 tbsp EVOO + 1 tbsp sherry vinegar + 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Toss gently with a wooden spoon — not vigorously, to preserve the strip structure.

Taste. Adjust — sherry vinegar if flat, salt if under-seasoned, more EVOO if dry. The flavor target: smoky-sweet, lightly acidic, unctuous from the EVOO. This is escalivada — already a complete tapa on its own, but here it's the coca topping.

Rest at room temperature at least 20 minutes . This lets the flavors integrate and the sherry vinegar penetrate the vegetable strips.

Dough Temper + Steel Preheat

Remove the dough from the fridge 60 minutes before bake time. Dough must temper to roughly 18–20 °C for proper stretching and oven spring. Cold dough straight from the fridge tears rather than stretches.

Place the baking steel or pizza stone on the kamado grate. Adjust vents to maintain 230 °C with the steel on top.

Preheat the steel 45 minutes at 230 °C. The stone/steel must be thermally saturated — its interior must reach target temperature, not just its surface. 45 min is non-negotiable; skipping this produces a soft-bottomed coca.

Shape, Top, Bake

Tip the tempered dough onto a generously floured work surface.

Press down with your palms to deflate. Then, working from the center outward, stretch the dough into a rectangle roughly 30 × 40 cm. Target thickness: about 5 mm — thinner than pizza, thicker than cracker. Use the heels of your palms and your fingertips to coax it; avoid a rolling pin, which compresses the bubbles you want in the final bake.

Transfer the shaped dough to a semolina-dusted pizza peel.

Brush the dough with 2 tbsp EVOO.

(🔴 only): spread 30 g black garlic purée thinly across the dough with an offset spatula. This adds a sweet-umami undercurrent invisible to guests.

Distribute the escalivada in loose strips across the dough, leaving a 1 cm border around the edges. Strip orientation is aesthetic — either parallel to the long axis or randomly scattered.

Arrange 8–10 anchovy fillets in a pattern — a St Andrew's cross, parallel lines, or random scatter. Olives dotted between.

Immediate load: slide the coca onto the preheated steel with a confident horizontal-plus-backward motion of the peel. Close the kamado lid immediately.

The Bake

Lid closed. Target bake time 12–15 minutes .

Check at 10 min: lift lid briefly (costs 20–30 °C in dome temp but is worth it to assess). The edges should be blistering and starting to deepen in color; the base should be firm (not doughy); the toppings should be sizzling at the edges.

Pull when: edges are blistered, gold-to-deep-amber at their peaks, with some darker spots where the char is pronounced. Base: crisp when tapped with a finger. Anchovies: glistening but not shriveled.

Slide the peel under the coca. Transfer to a cooling rack — NOT a cutting board. A cooling rack lets the base breathe and stay crisp; a board traps steam and softens the bottom.

Drizzle immediately with fresh EVOO (1–2 tbsp), a light scatter of flaky salt, and a few fresh thyme leaves if using.

Rest 5 minutes before slicing. The melted anchovies and residual steam need a moment to settle or the first slice will release a flood of EVOO.

Slice + Serve

Transfer rested coca to a large wooden board.

Cut into 8–10 rectangular pieces with a pizza wheel or sharp chef's knife. Traditional Catalan portioning is rectangular, not triangular.

Serve immediately while still hot. The coca is meant to be eaten with hands — tapa-style, standing up, with a glass of vermut or cava.

Leftover coca keeps on the counter covered loosely for 24 h. Re-crisp at 200 °C for 3 min before eating.

Timeline

T-24 h — Mix + ferment dough Dough components combined, 10 min autolyse, 10 min kneading, 1 h bulk rise, 24 h cold retard in fridge.
T=0 — Light kamado for escalivada Lump charcoal lit. Target 230 °C for vegetable char. Toss wood chunks on embers.
T+0:30 — Vegetables on kamado Eggplant + peppers + onion halves directly on grate. Skin-on. Rotate every 5–6 min.
T+1:00 — Vegetables off Skins uniformly black. Peppers into paper bag. Eggplant + onion to sheet pan. Cool 10 min.
T+1:10 — Peel + dress escalivada Peel, tear into strips, dress with EVOO + sherry vinegar + salt. Rest at room temp.
T+1:30 — Dough to counter Remove from fridge. Let temper 60 min. Place baking steel on kamado, preheat 45 min at 230 °C.
T+2:15 — Shape the coca Dough onto floured surface. Stretch and press into oblong 30 × 40 cm. Thin — about 5 mm.
T+2:20 — Top + load Brush dough with EVOO. (🔴) smear black garlic purée. Distribute escalivada in strips across surface. Arrange anchovies. Add olives.
T+2:25 — Bake 12–15 min Slide coca onto preheated steel via peel. Close kamado lid. Check at 10 min. Pull when edges are blistered gold and base is crisp.
T+2:40 — Finish + rest Off kamado. Drizzle fresh EVOO. Flaky salt. Thyme leaves scattered. Rest 5 min before slicing.
T+2:45 — Slice + serve Cut into 8–10 rectangular pieces with a pizza wheel. Plate on wooden board. Eat with hands, standing up, with a glass of vermut or cava.