Castagnaccio (chestnut flour cake) recipe

Number four on my New Year's resolution list was "bake more". And to keep my promise, a few days ago I baked a typical Tuscan cake, called Castagnaccio (and for those of you who are wondering, but wasn't the Tuscan Foodie on a diet?, well, a slice of Castagnaccio is only 5 points under the new Weight Watchers system, thank you for asking).

The castagnaccio is a chestnut flour cake (castagna in Italian means chestnut) with raisins, pine nuts, walnuts and rosemary. There is no yeast nor baking powder, nor sugar. As much of the Tuscan food that is now considered fancy elsewhere, this was born as a poor man's meal: everybody could go and pick up chestnuts in the wood and make flour out of it. According to some, the origins would go back to the Ancient Romans, when a chestnut bread was made out of coarsely ground chestnuts, and stuffed in travelers' and workers' bags. There are some fools that dare question the origin of Castagnaccio as a typical Tuscan dish though: but they are fool, nothing more.

Cracking up - this is what it should look like when ready

I didn't use the word "bread" by accident. The castagnaccio - again, as a lot of other Tuscan sweets - is not really a sweet, but something in between a savory bread and a cake. And it is super easy to make. You can find a variety of chestnut flours on Amazon, some of them from Italy, some of them from America. I have no clue if there is a difference in taste between American and Italian chestnuts: all I can tell you is that a good chestnut flour is very sweet when you taste it raw (and this is why you do not need to add sugar to the castagnaccio). Taste your flour before using it. If you find it sour, this can be the result of two things: 1) the flour is of poor quality or 2) the flour is too old and has gone stale (chestnut flour doesn't keep well. Purists only make castagnaccio in November-December, as the flour is prepared in October/November, when chestnuts are available...). In both cases, you can add some sugar to the mix to reduce the bitterness of the final products, but the final result may be subpar.

DOWNLOAD OR PRINT THE RECIPE CLICKING HERE.

Castagnaccio Ingredients (for 8 people)

• 250g (1/2 a pound) chestnut flour
• 2-3 cups of water (500-700ml) - it depends on the quality of the flour
• 1/3 cup (75g) of raisins
• 1/4 cup (50g) pine nuts
• 5 walnuts (peeled and coarsely ground) - if you don't have the walnuts, don't worry.
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 20-30 needles of rosemary

 How to make it

• Pass the flour through a sieve and put it in a bowl. 
• Add water to the mix, slowly, while mixing. You want the batter to be soft enough to fall from the spoon, but not too liquid. Normally 2 1/2 cups (600ml) is the perfect amount of water, but you may need more or less. 
• Add the olive oil, the pine nuts, the walnuts, the raisin and mix them all well together. 
• Oil a pan large enough so that the poured batter is 1cm thick (0.4 inches). Pour the batter in.
• Throw the rosemary needles on top of the batter. Do not stir: you want the needles to be visible.
• Bake the castagnaccio at 400 Fahrenheit (200 Celsius) for 30-40 minutes. The castagnaccio is NOT ready if there are no cracks appearing on the surface: the cracks means the cake is perfect. 
• Take it out, let it cool and enjoy it. You can eat it on its own, or with a teaspoon of ricotta cheese on top, which is how my family traditionally eat it. Wrapped in a plastic foil, it will last 4-5 days, but it will dry out a bit. 

The right size and thickness

Doesn't it look beautiful?

PS: crazy people will tell you that you can't make castagnacccio if you don't own a copper pan. But they are crazy. Let them be.
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