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Sfogliatelle recipe

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Rating:

4.5/ 5 stars 26 Votes
  • Cuisine: Italian
  • Prep Time: 2 hr(s) 30 min(s)
  • Cook Time: 45 min(s)
  • Makes 20–25 sfogliatelle

These pastries are truly a combination of passion and skill. Flaky pastry is fashioned into shells and has a glorious crunch, with a creamy filling.

Ingredients

Pastry
500 g plain flour
50 g sugar
6 g salt
200 ml water
150 g lard, softened

Filling
900 ml water
130 g sugar, plus 60 g extra
6 g salt
310 g semolina
vegetable oil
1.3 kg fresh ricotta
2 eggs
grated zest of 1 orange
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
1 tsp ground cinnamon

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Preparation

To make the pastry, put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and gradually mix in the water with your hands forming a stiff dough. Knead for a few minutes, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest for about 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into a few pieces (each about the size of a slice of bread) so it is easier to work with. Take the first piece and roll it through a pasta machine on the widest setting. Fold it in three and run it through the machine again. Do this about 4 times until smooth, then start rolling the pasta out at narrower settings until the sheet is 1 mm thick. Lay the sheet on a work surface and use your fingers to paint with a layer of the lard.

Begin rolling the sheet up from one of the short edges, gently stretching it longer and wider as you do so, until you have formed a cigar. Then roll another piece of dough through the pasta machine, coat it with lard, and roll it up around the first sheet to create a thicker roll. Continue with the rest of the dough until you have formed a large roll. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

To make the filling, put the water, 130 g of sugar and salt in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiling, gradually add the semolina, stirring. Cook for about 5 minutes, until thick. Remove from the heat, brush the top with a little vegetable oil and place the pan in the refrigerator to cool.

Remove the semolina from the saucepan, cut into small cubes and place in a bowl with the extra sugar. Beat with electric beaters until it breaks up. Add the ricotta and one of the eggs and continue beating until smooth. Add the remaining egg, orange zest, vanilla seeds and cinnamon and beat for another 3 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut the chilled pastry into 1 cm slices with a serrated knife. Use your fingers to massage a little lard into the cut sides of each slice and gently push out the centre of the spiral, separating the layers to gradually form a pouch or shell. Scoop some ricotta mixture into the centre, filling to the top. Loosely close the shell and lay it on a tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until crisp and golden.

SBS cook’s notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55–60 g, unless specified.

If you enjoyed this Sfogliatelle recipe then browse more Italian recipes, pasta recipes, entertaining recipes and our most popular hainanese chicken rice recipe.

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Comments (27)

Previous Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Next
23 May 2011 12:58 AEST
Jase
Adelaide
written ingredient amounts seem wrong
I tried this recipe, and have to agree with Gianna, the written instructions makes far too much filling and also doesnt mention the second addition of sugar at all. My advice it to follow the video as much as possible re proportions of ingredients and method. Mine turned out ok, but next time I'll follow this method but a different recipe.
Agree(3 people agree)
Disagree(1 people disagree)
20 May 2011 12:55 AEST
Tina
WOW have waited more than 20 years to see how my favorite sfogliatta are made, takes me back to when I lived in Italy used to have these warm from the bar on my way to school in the mornings. Magic.........
Agree(0 people agree)
Disagree(0 people disagree)
03 Dec 2010 09:25 AEST
Zahra
Bankstown
Help
Just wondering what he did with the ends cause it looks like he just used the middle and do you need a pasta maker to get the dough so elastic ? This even looks more difficult than mamoul a middle eastern sweet ..... looks amazing though.
Agree(4 people agree)
Disagree(1 people disagree)
24 Jul 2010 07:35 AEST
Gianna
I made them!! Success.....quite a few hours in the making, but all the hard work is really worth it. Pastry can be a bit tricky, and I found I had to make double quantity of pastry to use up all the ricotta mixture. As I have long nails, I was unable to "cone out" the disk of pastry so I used the handle of my wooden lemon juicer and it worked well. Thanks again....
Agree(4 people agree)
Disagree(43 people disagree)
22 Jul 2010 06:53 AEST
Gianna
I can't wait to bake these on the weekend. You make it look so easy. Your instructions were fantastic.......heres to a nice Sfogliatelli and coffee on Saturday afternoon. Thank you..............
Agree(4 people agree)
Disagree(4 people disagree)
16 Jun 2010 06:25 AEST
Mercedes Moccia
I just saw the program of the Sfogliatelle recipe and I got fascinated !!! with the techique to do this patisserie .. I'll try this week end to make it... Many, many thanks Italian Food Safari !! .... Big hug to all.. mercedes
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03 Jun 2010 09:02 AEST
Mario Tito
Thanks to the Chef (pastry cook) (YOU HAVE GOLDEN HANDS) BRAVISSIMO. I viewed this clip over 10 times looks easy, then when I try to do the same ""non riesce" does not succeed . I am very good in cutting hair,give you a perm, or a tint, but when it come to 'SFOGLIATELLE' I am no good.
Agree(4 people agree)
Disagree(0 people disagree)
02 Jun 2010 01:50 AEST
MT
Finalmente....words alone (a written recipe) are not enough to describe how to make the complex sfogliatelle so thank you Food Safari, in particular Claudio and Maeve for demonstrating, in English, the technique for making my favourite sweet. I have asked many pasticcieri over the years but none have been willing to impart with their secret.
Agree(1 people agree)
Disagree(1 people disagree)
   

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