Let's Make: Sfogliatelle - A Classic Italian Pastry With Paper Thin Layers (aka Not Lobster Tail)

Ingredients:

Sfogliatella Dough:

480 g Bread Flour

2 g Salt

200 g Water

25 g Runny Honey

Filling:

480 g Whole Milk

150 g Sugar

2 g Salt

2 g Cinnamon

5 g Vanilla extract

150 g Semolina

425 g Ricotta

50 g Egg Yolks

100 g Chopped Candied Orange Peel

Additional:

150 g Softened or melted butter (for layering)

20 g Powdered Sugar (for dusting)

 

Instructions:

In a large bowl combine the bread flour, salt, water and runny honey. Combine to a shaggy dough and turn out unto a clean surface. Kneed dough until it comes together in to a rough ball, flatten into a square, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Unwrap and divide into three pieces. Using a pasta machine on the largest setting, feed each through once, combine end to end to make one long piece and feed it through again.

Using liberal amounts of flour, feed the sfogliatella dough through the pasta machine, decreasing the thickness until a couple clicks off the finest settings (you should be able to just start seeing your fingers through it).

Wrap around a rolling pin using something (two bowls or a holder of some kind) to allow free rotation.

With your softened or melted butter to hand, start unraveling your sfogliatella dough from the rolling pin. Before adding any butter start a roll at the end, then smear and cover the section from the roll end to the rolling pin with butter.

Stretch the dough as wide and as thin is at can go. Working one section at a time, rolling it tightly into a log, butter, stretch, roll, until you have a large roll of papery thin dough coated with butter throughout.

Cover the log with butter, wrap and chill for 1 to 2 hours.

While chilling make your semolina ricotta filling. Take a large sauce pan and add whole milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to simmer, and slowly add the semolina while stirring the whole time. Continue to stir until pulling away from the sides and thickened. Remove from the heat.

In a food processor add your ricotta a blitz for a minute or so until smooth. Add the egg yolks and semolina mix, and run until smooth. Add chopped candied orange peels and mix by hand. Cover and set aside until room temp or chilled.

Preheat oven to 190ºC (375ºF)

Remove the chilled sfogliatella dough log from the refrigerator and unwrap. Cut off the ends and discard. Divide into 2.5 cm (1") pieces, and place on a lined sheet tray.

Fill pastry bag with the room temp or chilled semolina ricotta filling.

Smear butter over the top of each cut dough round, and using the palm of your hand flatten slightly. Using your fingers in a pinching motion shape each into a cone shape, pipe in a bit of filling and seal the ends.

Repeat until all the sfogiatelle are filled and sealed. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and place individually on a cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar and think of Campania Italy in the Autumn while enjoying!