Sfogliatelle
Real sfogliatelle take three days and a level of patience most professional Neapolitan bakers develop over an entire career, and I am not going to pretend this book can teach you that in one recipe. What follows is the honest home version, built with phyllo dough instead of the traditional hand-stretched pastry -- it won't fool anyone who grew up on the real thing, but it gets closer than you'd expect for an afternoon's work instead of three days.
Ingredients
- 50g dry semolina
- 150ml whole milk
- 250g ricotta, well drained
- 80g sugar
- Zest of 1 orange
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 egg yolks
- 30g candied orange peel, chopped (optional)
- 8 sheets phyllo dough
- 100g butter, melted
- Powdered sugar, to finish
Makes about 12.
Cookware Required
- uno spiedino di legno sottile (a thin wooden skewer or dowel)
- il pennello da cucina (a pastry brush)
Method
Cook the semolina in the milk over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens into a stiff paste, a few minutes. Let it cool completely. Combine it with the ricotta, sugar, orange zest, cinnamon, egg yolks, and candied peel if using. Chill until needed.
Lay one sheet of phyllo flat, and brush it generously with melted butter. Lay the skewer along one edge, and roll the phyllo tightly around it, brushing with more butter as you go. Slide the skewer back out. Repeat with the remaining sheets, buttering generously between each -- the more butter between the layers, the more convincingly this fakes the real dough's lamination.
Chill the rolled log until firm, at least thirty minutes. Slice into rounds about two centimeters thick. Working with one round at a time, press and stretch it gently with your thumbs into a cone shape, widening one end into a shell -- this takes a little practice, and your first few will look rougher than the rest. Don't let that stop you.
Fill each shell generously with the ricotta mixture, pinch the seam to help it hold its shape, and place seam-down on a baking sheet. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for twenty to twenty-five minutes, until deeply golden and crisp. Cool slightly, and dust with powdered sugar before serving.
Quando Va Storto
If the layers come out flat instead of properly shell-like, the phyllo wasn't buttered generously enough between sheets, or the rolled log wasn't chilled firm enough to hold its shape once sliced. If the filling leaks out during baking, the shells weren't pinched and sealed well at the seam, or were simply overfilled. And if the shells turn out soggy rather than crisp, either they didn't get enough time in the oven, or the semolina wasn't cooked down thick enough beforehand, leaving too much moisture in the filling for the shell to handle.