Sfogliatelle or Cannoli: The Ultimate Italian Pastry

Some may think that cannoli is the ultimate Italian pastry, but for me it is sfogliatelle. I have traveled long and far to purchase them. When studying Italian in Bologna, there was a pasticceria across the street from the apartment I rented. Every morning they make them fresh and I was there when they came out of the oven to enjoy a warm sfogliatelle for breakfast ? I still dream of those mornings.

One Easter on our way to Genoa we stopped at an Agip highway restaurant for an espresso and they were giving them out free for Easter, what a wonderful surprise.

In Genoa they had stalls in the outdoor market selling them in huge amounts filled with all sorts of fillings. We bought several as I wanted to try all the assortments, but I still prefer the traditional sfogliatelle.

The Villa Crespi is a 4 star Luxury hotel with a 2 star Michelin rated restaurant overlooking Lago di Orta (http://www.hotelvillacrespi.it/). A merchant who traded in Iraq built this Moorish style villa. The chef, Antonio Cannavacciuolo runs the hotel and restaurant serving creative, artistically presented cuisine that is a dream to eat. The chef made sfogliatelle every afternoon and served them with espresso for a late afternoon delight. They were smaller then the typical ones you find in the bakery and light. Filled with the traditional ricotta filling, I was there in the garden waiting for them every afternoon during our relaxing visit.

Orta is a small picturesque village along the lake in the Piedmonte west of Lago Maggiore. It is one of the smallest and least known towns along the lakes. If you have spent your vacation visiting the Lakes region and want a few days of relaxation before returning home, spend them at the unique Villa Crespi. The hotel is only 45 minutes from Milan?s Malpensa International airport and a a perfect hotel to wind down.

This recipe was taken from one of the chef’s antique cookbooks and I translated it into English.

http://www.orta.net/eng1/indexe.htm

Sfogliatelle Ricce

Recipe Summary

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 15 minutes @ 400º F, 15 minutes @ 350º F, 5-10 minutes @ 250º F

Yield: 16 large or 32 small pastries

Dough

8 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

2 cups suet or lard

1 3/4 cups cold water, more if needed

2 tablespoons fine salt

1/2 cup honey

Filling

2 cups semolina

1 3/4 cups whole milk ricotta

2 cups confectionary sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 cup candied fruit, chopped

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 pinches cinnamon

7 oz. distilled water, as needed

Salt to taste

Egg Wash

1 egg, beaten with the water

1 tablespoons water

Other things needed

Pasta machine

Dough

Melt the honey with water.

Put the flour into a food processor and add the suet, salt and mix until it crumbles. Add the honey/water mixture a little at a time until the dough forms into a ball. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.

If making the dough by hand, put the flour in a large bowl or on a wooden board. Make a well in the middle and add the suet, salt, honey and water. Mix with your hands until you form a ball. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

ASSEMBLY

Roll out thin strips of the dough in the pasta machine. Make several equal strips in length of at least 40?. The strip should be the thickness of 1/16? or less.

With care, lightly but lavishly brush the suet onto each strip. In doing this, you must be very careful that the strips are not stretched or torn. Never use flour.

Place 3 of the greased strips on top of each other. Tightly roll up the strips toward you. You will find that the fat will begin to melt. Continue with this process until you have rolled up all the strips.

You will then have a coil of approximately 12? in length and 3? in diameter; you will find that the suet has melted somewhat. Cover the cylinder with plastic wrap. Put it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

If using a pasta machine your strips are not going to be the same size, they will be the width of the pasta machine. This is not a problem; just follow the recipe directions in the same way.

ASSEMBLY

The following day proceed with filling and baking them. Remove the cylinder from the refrigerator. Cut the cylinders into slices the thickness of 1?.

You must transform the slice into sfogliatelle flakes. On the cut side, using your fingers, gently push in the folds from the center inwards. Making the inverse movement on the outside, from the edge towards the larger end. Gently spread the larger end outwards, so that it looks like a clamshell with grooves.

Continue with the same treatment for the other slices. Then, maneuvering delicately and flattening them to take the shape again working in the shape of a clamshell with a point on top and wide at the base creating what looks like a shell; finally the sfogliatelle is ready to be filled.

Another possibility is to take each 1? slice and sprinkle a little flour on a board and a little on the slice. With a rolling pin, roll from the center out to the right and the left. Again place the rolling pin in the middle of the oval and roll down forming an oval shape. Pick up the oval and fill with the filling in the middle. Seal the wide part of the oval and place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.

This process does not create the typical shell shape but is acceptable.

FILLING

Place all the ingredients in a bowl except for the water. Beat by hand until you have blended all the ingredients. Begin to add a little water at a time beating it in until the filling is just a little fluid. This is a thick filling and you just want to add enough water to make it smooth.

ASSEMBLY

Hold the shell in the hollow of your hand, put a spoon full of filling inside the center; seal the edges, but don?t pinch them together. Carefully lay them down on your cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush each one with an egg wash or melted suet or lard whatever you choose to use.

BAKE

Prepare all the sfogliatelle. Bake in a 400º F oven for 15 minutes. Brush with the lard and reduce the heat to 350º F and cook for another 15 minutes. Brush with an egg wash and cook for another 5-10 minutes at 250º F. When they are a beautifully golden in color, remove them from the oven.

Sprinkle them with a veil of powdered sugar when they are hot out of the oven, and serve them warm if possible.

NOTE: A special machine is used in bakeries to form the pastry and this can?t be effectively reproduced at home even when using a pasta machine. They are delicious even though the pastry isn’t as fine.

NOTE: Sfogliatelle do not stay well. It is best to make the dough and rolls the day before and the next day bake and serve them.