09/08/2016
Sfogliatella is a Napolitan icon. It was invented in 1600 by a nun in a cloistered convent near Amalfi. She did not want to waste some bran left, so she added dried fruit, sugar and lemon liquor to make a stuffing to be covered by two layers of puff pastry. Two handred years later this pastry arrived from Amalfi to Naples where other ingredients were added and and given the current shape.
Recipe: put the flour in a bowl with sugar, butter, salt and some water, to obtain a dough firm and elastic. Let it rest for an hour in a cool ambient. Boil in a saucepan about half a liter of lightly salted water, pour in the semolina, Removed the semolina from the heat, let it cool and transfer into a bowl: add the ricotta, 150 g of powdered sugar, one egg, chopped candied fruit, a drop of essence and cinnamon. Let rest the mixture in the refrigerator, covered with a towel. Create with the pastry four rectangles, brush them with butter and overlap them. Roll them up and then flatten with a rolling pin. You will get a small shell, to stuff with a bit of filling. Seal edges, brush with beaten egg yolk and bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes, lower the oven and bake for another 20 minutes.
