Crispy Coca With Honey, Thyme & Sea Salt

[kirra]

Crispy Coca With Honey, Thyme & Sea Salt
Luis Bollo

This addictive salty-sweet coca comes from chef Luis Bollo at New York City's Salinas restaurant. Bollo fell in love with cocas while in Majorca, and developed this recipe around the island's traditional flavors. He rolls the standard dough extra thin, creating a light coca that's perfect for tapas. His restaurant preparation trick works wonderfully if you're cooking for a crowd: roll out the cocas and partially cook them, then clean up your kitchen and prep the finishing touches. When company comes, toss the par-cooked cocas in the oven to finish, then greet your guests with a deliciously warm treat.

Ingredients:

1 recipe Basic Coca Dough (Recipe follows)
6 tablespoons olive oil
6 ounces Mahon, or cheese of your choosing, grated
6 tablespoons honey
6 sprigs thyme
Sea salt

Preparation:

Preheat the oven (and pizza stone, if you have one), to 500 degrees, and take the dough out of the refrigerator to warm up.

To assemble the coca, divide the dough into six portions, and remove one portion of it. Keep the remaining portions covered. Roll out the dough into an oval shape, as thin as possible, roughly 12-by-6 inches, and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet or a cornmeal-sprinkled pizza peel (if you're using a pizza stone).

Prick the dough several times with a fork (this prevents it from puffing up with air holes), and bake, either on the cookie sheet or transferring onto the pizza stone, until the dough begins to puff up, about 1 minute. Remove the dough from the oven and repeat with remaining dough balls. This step can be done well in advance.

To finish, turn the oven down to 350 degrees. Drizzle the partially cooked coca with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with 1 ounce of cheese. Place in the oven (on a stone or cookie sheet), and bake until the cheese melts, about 3 minutes. Remove from the oven, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of honey. Sprinkle on the leaves from one sprig of thyme and season generously with sea salt to taste. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
Makes six 12-by-6-inch crispy cocas.


Basic Coca Dough
Luis Bollo

You may substitute additional olive oil for the lard if you prefer. In a pinch, you can use a store-bought pizza dough for the handmade version — just be sure to roll it out nice and thin.

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for oiling the bowl
2 tablespoons lard (or substitute additional olive oil)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semolina flour
3 cups all-purpose flour

Preparation:

Place the water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a mixer and let sit for a few minutes to allow the yeast to soften and bloom.

Add the olive oil, lard and salt. Using a dough hook, mix in the semolina and the flour (if you don't have a mixer, you can do this with a wooden spoon, switching to kneading with your hands when it gets stiff). Knead for several minutes, until the dough comes together into a smooth, supple ball (it will be a somewhat stiff dough).

Coat the dough with a bit of olive oil to keep it from drying out, and place in a covered container and refrigerate overnight (if you're in a rush, you can instead let it rise for an hour or two at room temperature).