Lobstertail Italian Pastry Recipes

AUTHENTIC ITALIAN SFOGLIATELLE RECIPE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add water and honey, and then mix to create a stiff dough. Then gradually add water.
• Place the dough on the counter and knead until it's smooth and supple. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, split the dough into 4 pieces. Get one piece, then roll through a pasta machine. Roll using the widest setting, then fold in half and roll again. Do the same on each dough. Repeat this process until you create smooth sheets by gradually decreasing the width on each roll.
• When the sheet is at 1mm thick, lay it on the surface and apply a thin layer of lard or butter. Create thin sheets of the other doughs as well and roll them into similar thin layers.
• Roll up the first thin sheet to create a tight sausage shape.
• Next, wrap the next thin dough sheet around the original sausage shape pastry dough, layering up to create one large cylinder. Cover with a saran wrap and chill for 1 to 2 hours for the pastry to firm up.
• Now, to make the filling. Place the milk, sugar, and salt in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add the semolina flour until it thickens and becomes smooth. After it has cooled down, transfer to a bowl. Then, add the remaining ingredients, stirring all the while to create a smooth, thick filling. Set aside, preferably inside the fridge.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Bring out the pastry roll and cut them into 1 cm-thick pieces. Use your fingers, greased with lard or butter, to make an impression on the center to create a cone shape.
• Get the filling and scoop a spoonful into the hollow and press the edges of the pastry together to lock. Repeat these for the rest, and line up all pastries on the tray.
• When you're done putting filling on all the dough pieces, bake the pastries for about 30 minutes.
• When done, allow to cool for only a couple of minutes before sprinkling them with confectioner's sugar. Serve immediately.

SFOGLIATELLE RICCE

Steps:

• Mix bread flour, 5 1/3 ounces semolina flour, and kosher salt together in a large bowl; add water and honey and mix. The dough will be very dry, like pasta. If there is still dry flour after a few minutes of mixing, add up to 2 teaspoons more water to ensure all the flour is moistened.
• Turn dough onto a counter. Knead a few minutes until the dough is smooth, firm, and not tacky. While firm, 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, folding in half and rotating the sheet 45 degrees each time (see Cook's Note). Dust with flour very sparingly, only if needed to prevent tearing. Repeat with all four pieces. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Blend ricotta cheese in a food processor until smooth. Boil 1 cup of water and stir in the sugar. Sift in the semolina, whisking to avoid clumping. It will immediately thicken up. Reduce heat to low, fold in the ricotta, and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Remove pan from heat and return filling to food processor. While processor is running, add egg yolks, one at a time, until fully combined. Add vanilla, cinnamon, and candied orange peel and pulse to mix. Transfer filling to a bowl. Cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
• 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.
• 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, 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.
• 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, overlapping a half-inch or so. Roll the sheets up into a tight cylinder, leaving about an inch to overlap the next sheet. Lay the third dough sheet on the parchment, overlapping the second sheet, and brush with the butter mixture. Continue rolling up the log of dough, 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.
• 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.
• Cut cylinder of dough into half-inch slices; you should have 16 to 20 pieces. Holding the dough in both hands, use your thumbs to flatten the dough piece from the center outwards. Form flattened slice into a cone shape. Pipe filling into center, close partially, and repeat with remaining dough and filling.
• Bake in preheated oven until dough turns golden brown and starts to "peel" back from the pastries, 20 to 30 minutes. You can baste the pastries a couple of times with the leftover butter and lard mixture during baking, if you like. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

LOBSTER TAIL PASTRY

Steps:

• 1. Large mixing bowl ~ combine both flours, sugar & salt. Mix well, then cut in butter until dough is well blended. Slowly add the water.
• 2. Knead until dough is firm. Form into a ball, cover with saran wrap and chill for 2 hours in refrigerator.
• 3. In medium saucepan, add milk and bring to boil. Slowly stir in the semolina. Whisk constantly until smooth. Simmer 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a large bowl and cool.
• 4. When mixture is cool, add ricotta (passed through a sieve), egg, sugar, lemon zest, and sugar. Beat well then set aside.
• 5. Remove dough and divide into 2 equal parts. ' Place on pastry board (dusted) and roll into an 18 inch square. Dough will be very thin, brush with butter.
• 6. Roll like jelly roll and cut roll into 3-4 inch pieces. Place on piece in hand, press thumb into middle of pastry and push it down to form a hole like a sugar cone shape. Fill center with filling. Fold the "cone" until the open edges touch. Gently press to seal. Place dough down onto pastry board and gently pull out the sides of the front to form a shell. Brush the tops with beaten egg yolk. Repeat with other tails until filling is gone.
• 7. Preheat oven to 425*. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and place the shells on the parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Let the pastry cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then place on rack. Serve when cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

SFOGLIATELLE RICCE - AUTHENTIC RECIPE STEP BY STEP

Steps:

• Add flour and salt in a mixing bowl, give a stir, add honey and lukewarm water. Mix well with your hands or in a stand mixer until you get a slightly crumbly dough. If you are going to roll the dough by hand it's best to add another few tablespoons of water to make the dough a bit smoother. But if you're going to use a pasta machine feel free to leave the dough at that "slightly crumbly" stage, it'll all come together later in the process.
• Cover the dough with a plastic wrap or linen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
• Past that time divide the dough in 3-4 parts. Take one part and keep the rest of the dough covered to prevent it from drying. Pass the first part of the dough through pasta machine on the widest setting "0 setting".Fold it over on itself, rotate and pass again on the same thickness setting.
• Pass the dough at least 3-5 times repeating the folding process, until you get a smooth and even sheet. Then set the regulating knob of the pasta machine to the next setting (setting 1) and pass it again several times. Continue increasing thickness setting until you get to the thinnest sheet possible (setting 7-8 on Marcato Atlas Pasta Machine).
• You'll need to pass the dough just once on that last thickness setting. I also recommend stopping the machine a couple of times as the dough sheet comes through and roll it up onto the rolling pin. The ends (handles) of the rolling pin should be settled between two water bottles or soup bowls to prevent the dough from touching the table. Cover rolled dough with a plastic wrap.
• Repeat the same process with the remaining dough chunks.At the end you should get a sheet pastry approx 15 feet long and 5-6 inches wide rolled over the rolling pin.
• Prepare lard at room temperature or melted butter.Start to unfold sfogliatelle sheets from the rolling pin.
• Extend the dough sheet over a clean work surface and grease it thoroughly with lard/butter making sure you smear well the edges as well.You can use your hands if using lard or painting brush if using melted butter.
• Place your hands underneath the dough and gently stretch it outwards elongating it to approx. 7-8 inches wide.
• Roll the greased piece into a very tight roll and unfold another section. Repeat the greasing, stretching and rolling process until you've used all the dough from the rolling pin.
• As a result you should get a very tight kind of dough log. Grease it all over with remaining lard/butter, cover with a plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or better yet overnight.
• If you are short on time you can place it in the freezer for about an hour.In the meantime prepare the cream.
• In a stove-top pot add milk, butter (see notes), salt and sugar. Stir well and bring the mixture to boil.
• Constantly stirring slowly add semolina. Continue whisking to avoid formation of the lumps and cook for 5 minutes. Let cool completely.
• In a food processor add cooked semolina, ricotta and an egg. Pulse a few times until smooth and even texture. If you don't have a food processor just use a hand-hold or standing mixer.
• Add candied oranges, cinnamon, vanilla extract and orange blossom water.Mix with a whisk and set aside.
• Take the sfogliatelle dough log out of the fridge and while it's still covered with a plastic wrap gently but firmly squeeze and stretch it with your hands going from the center towards the sides.
• Remove the plastic wrap and cut off uneven sides of the log, then cut into approx ½ inch slices.
• To form the sfogliatelle cone, take a dough slice and start gently working it with your fingers.Using your thumbs and a rotating motion push the center of the slice out opening up dough layers and forming a cone shape. Be careful not to push the layers too much apart, you still want them to stay together.
• Holding sfogliatella in one hand fill the cavity of the cone with ricotta cream. Make sure to fill with enough cream so that sfogliatelle stay full and puffy. If the cream is not enough they'll simply flatten out in the oven.
• Put together the edges of the opening as you can, they don't have to be perfectly sealed. The cream is thick enough to hold in the pastry.Place sfogliatelle on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Preheat the oven to 380F.Bake sfogliatelle in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
• Serve warm generously dusted with confectioners' sugar.

(LOBSTERTAIL) ITALIAN PASTRY

Steps:

• (lobstertail) Italian Pastry Combine flours, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Mix well. Add butter, cutting it into the dough until blended. Slowly add water. Knead until firm. Form into a ball, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
• (filling) Place a saucepan over medium heat. Add milk. Bring to a boil and slowly add semolina flour. Stir constantly so as to avoid lumps. Simmer three to four minutes, remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool. After five minutes add ricotta (which has been passed through a sieve), egg, sugar, candied fruit, and sugar to semolina. Beat well. Set aside. Remove dough from refrigerator. Divided it into two equal parts. Place on a dusted pastry board and roll with a rolling pin into an 18 inch square. It will become very, very, thin. Brush the thin pastry with butter. Begin at one end and roll it like a jelly roll. Cut the roll into a number of 3-4 inch pieces. Pick up one piece of the dough in your hand. Press your thumb in the center of the pastry and push it down to form a hole like a cup. Fill the cup with 2 tablespoons of filling. Fold the cup until the open edges touch. Gently press the edges together to seal the pastry. Set it in front of you. Gently pull out the sides of the front to form a shell. Brush the top with beaten egg yolk. Repeat above until all pastry and filling are used. Preheat over to 425 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place the shells on the paper and bake for 15 minutes or until brown. Let the pastry cool on the cookie sheet for five minutes. It will harden a bit. Then place on a rack. When ready to serve and completely cool, sprinkle with confectioners sugar.
• (Shell-shaped Flaky Ricotta Pastries) Bring the water to a boil, add a pinch of salt and pour in the semolina, stirring so as not to form lumps. Cook, stirring for about 8 mins., stirring constantly. Let cool. Make a fontana with the flour. Put half of the butter, a pinch of salt and as much water as necessary to knead the dough to a smooth and elastic consistency. Wrap the dough in a towel and let rest for an hour. Sift the ricotta; mix with the semolina, 6 tbs. sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and the candied peel. Roll out the pastry with a rolling pin to obtain a 25x18-in. rectangle, 1/16-in. thick. Cut the pastry vertically into 4 strips and place one on top of the other, brushing each one with melted butter. Let rest for half an hour, and then roll up the stack of dough. Slice the roll into 10 equal pieces with a very sharp, floured knife. Place the pieces on the pastry board and roll them gently with the rolling pin, first vertically, in an upward direction, and then in a downwards direction, to give them an oval shape. Turn the ovals over, place a bit of ricotta filling in the middle of each one, brush the edges with egg yolk, then fold the dough over and press to seal. Brush the sfogliatelle with melted strutto and place on a paper greased with butter. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 425ºF for 20 mins. Remove from the oven. Brush with melted butter again, lower the temperature to 350ºF and bake for another 20 mins. Let cool, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and serve.