Sfogliatelle Ricce

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Description

I searched high and low for a recipe for this delicious pastry, originally prepared only for the aristocratic Renaissance set in Italy. There are only a few recipes online in English, and they assume you know quite about bit about baking or were just wrong. I’ve tried to simplify the process. It’s a challenging recipe that requires a lot of time and some special techniques. Don’t be upset if you don’t get it right the first time. NOTE: The dough is a formula, so the ingredient measures are weights. It matters. The rest is less critical, so I used volumes.

Ingredients

  • 12 ⅓ ounces bread flour
  • 5 ⅓ ounces semolina flour
  • ⅓ ounce kosher salt
  • 6 ½ fluid ounces water, or more if needed
  • ⅔ fluid ounce honey
  • 1 ⅔ cups whole-milk ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • ⅔ cup semolina flour
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped candied orange peel
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ½ cup lard, room temperature
  • ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Instructions

  1. Mix bread flour
  2. 5 1/3 ounces semolina flour
  3. and kosher salt together in a large bowl; add water and honey and mix. The dough will be very dry
  4. like pasta. If there is still dry flour after a few minutes of mixing
  5. add up to 2 teaspoons more water to ensure all the flour is moistened.
  6. Turn dough onto a counter. Knead a few minutes until the dough is smooth
  7. firm
  8. and not tacky. While firm
  9. the dough must also be workable. Divide the dough into four pieces and flatten. Cover dough with plastic wrap when not working with it. Run each piece through a pasta machine on its widest setting a dozen or so times
  10. folding in half and rotating the sheet 45 degrees each time (see Cook’s Note). Dust with flour very sparingly
  11. only if needed to prevent tearing. Repeat with all four pieces. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
  12. Blend ricotta cheese in a food processor until smooth. Boil 1 cup of water and stir in the sugar. Sift in the semolina
  13. whisking to avoid clumping. It will immediately thicken up. Reduce heat to low
  14. fold in the ricotta
  15. and cook for another 2 minutes
  16. stirring constantly.
  17. Remove pan from heat and return filling to food processor. While processor is running
  18. add egg yolks
  19. one at a time
  20. until fully combined. Add vanilla
  21. cinnamon
  22. and candied orange peel and pulse to mix. Transfer filling to a bowl. Cool to room temperature
  23. cover with plastic wrap
  24. and refrigerate.
  25. Divide each dough piece into four pieces. Cover dough with plastic wrap. Place clean kitchen towels over a work surface. Lay each sheet of dough on the towels while you roll out the remaining sheets.
  26. Run each piece through the pasta machine on progressively smaller settings until dough is as thin as possible. After running it through the pasta machine
  27. stretch each sheet as wide as you can without tearing. Dough sheets should stretch to three times their original width and be so thin you can see through it.
  28. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a work surface. Melt butter and lard. Place the first sheet of pastry on the parchment. Brush the dough with the butter-lard mixture. Lay the second sheet above the first
  29. overlapping a half-inch or so. Roll the sheets up into a tight cylinder
  30. leaving about an inch to overlap the next sheet. Lay the third dough sheet on the parchment
  31. overlapping the second sheet
  32. and brush with the butter mixture. Continue rolling up the log of dough
  33. repeating until all the dough pieces are brushed with the butter mixture and rolled up. Wrap dough log in the parchment sheet and wrap entirely with plastic wrap; refrigerate for 2 hours.
  34. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place filling mixture in a pastry bag or a 1 gallon zipper bag with the corner snipped off.
  35. Cut cylinder of dough into half-inch slices; you should have 16 to 20 pieces. Holding the dough in both hands
  36. use your thumbs to flatten the dough piece from the center outwards. Form flattened slice into a cone shape. Pipe filling into center
  37. close partially
  38. and repeat with remaining dough and filling.
  39. Bake in preheated oven until dough turns golden brown and starts to “peel” back from the pastries
  40. 20 to 30 minutes. You can baste the pastries a couple of times with the leftover butter and lard mixture during baking
  41. if you like. Dust with confectioners\’ sugar before serving.

Prep Time: 1 hr

Cook Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 6 hrs 30 mins

Servings: 16

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