Taralli

Wine-and-oil rings boiled before they are baked, which is what makes them snap.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 500 g plain flour
• 150 ml dry white wine
• 120 ml olive oil
• 2 tablespoons fennel seeds, lightly crushed
• 10 g salt

Method

1. Mix the flour, salt and fennel seeds, then work in the wine and oil. There is no water and no yeast in this at all.
2. Knead 10 minutes to a firm smooth dough and rest it 30 minutes.
3. Roll ropes the thickness of a pencil, cut 10 cm lengths, and join each into a ring, pressing the join firmly.
4. BOIL THEM BEFORE BAKING. Drop them into simmering water a dozen at a time and lift each one out the moment it floats, about 60 seconds.
5. That boil is the whole recipe. It gelatinises the starch on the surface, which is what gives the hard glassy snap and the shine — baked straight from raw they are just dry biscuits.
6. Lay them on cloths to dry for 20 minutes, until the surface is no longer wet.
7. Bake at 190C for 30 to 35 minutes until deep gold all through. They crisp further as they cool and keep a month in a tin.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes