Lower GL Version of Publix Tomato and Onion Shicaccia

When we lived in Georgia, one of our favourite treats were the Tomato and Onion Shicaccia from the Publix Bakery. At that time, the closest Publix was in Cartersville which is over 25 miles from Rome.    The only time we had them was when we’d make a trip down to go to Hobby Lobby every few months or so. Then we’d make it a point to stop off at Publix and pick up some shicaccia.

Sometimes they would make it home to be eaten with soup for lunch or supper but more often than not, they were eaten in the car while driving back to Rome.

Now that we’re living in Florida for the winter, the local Publix is less than a mile and a half away and has become our grocery store of choice. These tempting tomato and onion shicaccia are just too easy to pick up and add to the cart.

But with their white bread crust, they definitely do not fit into my low GL (Glycemic Load) eating plan.

So this week, I set out to see if I could recreate the taste of those shicaccia but using a lower GL whole wheat crust.

I didn’t want to buy a bag of whole wheat flour just for this experiment so I decided to use these whole wheat flatbreads instead of making the dough from scratch.

Place the flatbreads on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil.

Slice tomatoes very thin and place them in a single layer on the flatbread.

Next add thinly sliced onions.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and granulated garlic.

Place on the middle rack of an oven that has been preheated to 375 degrees F for approximately five minutes. (This will partially cook the tomatoes and onions before adding the cheese.)

Remove from the oven and add a generous layer of grated cheese.

I used the Publix 6 Cheese Italian which is a blend of mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, asiago, pontina and romano cheeses. (I didn’t have any dried parlsey to sprinkle on top, but if you’d like to add it to yours, now would be the time.)

Return to the oven and bake for an addition 10 minutes. You want the cheese melted and bubbling and starting to brown.

You can eat them hot out of the oven, but if you allow them to cool first, the juice from the tomatoes will soak into the crust making them a much closer approximation of the Publix Tomato and Onion shicaccia.

If you’re not concerned with the glycemic load of your food, I’m sure if you used a regular pizza dough recipe (you’ll need to cook it longer) or a white flatbread, they would taste even more like the originals.

But even using the whole grain flatbread they come very close in taste. In fact, we’ve decided that we actually like our version even better!

I would be so pleased if you chose to share by clicking on one of the buttons below!