Castagnaccio · Castagnaccio Toscano
Tuscany · dolce · serves 8 · 60 min total · easy
The cake of the chestnut-flour valleys — the Garfagnana, the Mugello, the Casentino. Mountain people lived on chestnut flour through winters before potatoes arrived in Europe. Castagnaccio is its plainest expression: flour, water, oil, the autumn fruits of the woods. No sugar, no eggs, no dairy. Pellegrino Artusi included it in 1891 with a sigh that no one in Bologna understood its appeal — but Tuscans have made it the same way for 600 years.
Ingredients
- 350 g sweet chestnut flour (farina di castagne)
- 500 ml cold water
- 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 80 g sultanas, soaked
- 60 g pine nuts
- 40 g walnut pieces (optional)
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary needles
- 1 orange orange zest (optional)
Method
- Sift the chestnut flour into a bowl — it lumps. Stir in salt.
- Add cold water in a slow stream, whisking constantly, to a smooth batter the consistency of single cream. Whisk in 2 tbsp of the olive oil. Let stand 15 minutes.
- Oil a low, wide round pan (28 cm) or a rectangular tray with the rest of the olive oil — be generous.
- Pour the batter in. It should sit 1.5 cm deep — no more. (A thin castagnaccio is the true castagnaccio.)
- Scatter sultanas, pine nuts, walnut pieces, rosemary needles and orange zest over the top. Drizzle a last spoon of olive oil.
- Bake at 200°C (390°F) for 35–40 minutes — the top dries to a deep brown and cracks all over in the classic crazed pattern. Underneath stays soft and just-set.
- Cool 15 minutes. Cut into rough squares. Eat warm or at room temperature, with a glass of new red wine.