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Torta de Aceite (Crisp Olive Oil Flatbread with Anise)

Name: Torta de Aceite (Crisp Olive Oil Flatbread with Anise)
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 10 servings
Cuisine: Spanish
Ingredients: 300 g plain flour; 90 ml extra virgin olive oil; 120 ml lukewarm water; 3 g instant dried yeast; 1 tbsp anise seeds; 1 tbsp sesame seeds; 0.5 tsp salt; 4 tbsp sugar; 1 egg white

A Seville pastry: a dough of flour, olive oil, anise and sesame rolled paper-thin, sprinkled with sugar and baked. It has no crumb; the whole thing is crust. In Castile the same name belongs to a thick, soft bread, and the Seville torta became something else by giving up almost all of its thickness.

Steps

Warm the olive oil in a pan, add the anise and sesame, and take it off the heat as soon as they smell toasted. Let it cool.
⏲ 1 min
Mix the flour, yeast and salt, pour in the cooled oil and the water, and knead 5 minutes until smooth. It is a soft, oily dough.
⏲ 5 min
Cover and leave somewhere warm for 1 hour, until it has grown a little.
⏲ 60 min
Divide into ten 30g pieces and round them.
Roll each one out on baking paper to at least 15cm across and no more than 2mm thick. The closer to see-through, the crisper (dough and gluten).
Brush the tops thinly with egg white and scatter the sugar evenly over them.
Bake at 200°C for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are brown and the sugar has caramelised in patches.
⏲ 12 min
Cool completely on a rack; they crisp as they cool. Wrap each in paper and keep them in an airtight tin.

Variations

The Castilian torta de aceite. A round, thick bread of the same name with a soft crumb. The top is dimpled with the fingers so that the oil spread on it does not run off.
Savoury. Coarse salt and rosemary in place of the sugar.
With cinnamon. Mix cinnamon into the sugar before scattering it.

Tips

Roll it as thin as you can. Any thickness left grows a crumb, and it will not be crisp.
Roll it on baking paper and move it on the paper. A sheet this thin tears when lifted.
Scatter the sugar just before baking.
Cool completely before storing. Packed warm, they go soft.

More detail and the reasons why (1)

One name, two breads. The Castilian torta keeps its crumb and holds its oil in dimples, as focaccia does. The Seville torta puts the oil into the dough and rolls it so thin that no crumb is left, so the whole sheet is crust and the sugar on top caramelises across it. Piadina also rolls a fatty dough thin, but cooks it soft on a griddle to be folded; the Seville torta is baked until it snaps.