Homebaker’s Cookbook: / Persimmon Pie Il Ricettario di Homebaker: Pie di cachi

Today for Homebaker’s Cookbook I present you with a simple pie to use up the last seasonal persimmons. If you are vegetarian you can substitute the shortening fat with butter, but I assure you that adding shortening will make your pie’s dough very crumbly I highly recommend the use of this ingredient to “cut” the butter while making pies.

Homebaker’s Cookbook: Baghrir/ Il Ricettario di Homebaker: Crèpes millebuchi

Today’s recipe for Homebaker’s Cookbook is a reinterpretation of baghrir, a bubbly pancake often used as an accompaniment for both sweet and savoury dishes. I wanted to propose you with a sweet version like the one I tasted at the home of my friends Simone and Ramzi. I made an addition of saffron to perfume these pancakes that will drive you crazy. Try them for breakfast, you will love them.

Baghrir
x about 24-30 crêpes

330 g water
180 g homebaker’s pizza and pasta flour 
7 g baking powder
5 g sugar
2 g salt
1 g instant yeast
½ packet of saffron powder

In a large bowl blend all the ingredients except the baking powder and salt.
Stir up with a whisk for about 4 minutes, then cover the bowl with clingfilm and let it rest at room temperature for about an hour.
Add the baking powder and salt.
Stir up for a few seconds, just to mix all the ingredients.
Cover the bowl again with clingfilm and let it rest at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
Take a non-stick pan and heat it.
Do not grease and pour a ladle or a spoonful of mixture.
The mixture will form many bubbles on the surface.
Baghrir are ready when all the bubbles have burst.
They are cooked only on one side so resist the temptation of flipping them over.
Do not overlap the pancakes and store them covered under a towel.
Proceed like this with all the dough.
Baghrir are excellent with butter and honey melted together in a saucepan.

Il Ricettario di Homebaker: Crèpes millebuchi

La ricetta di oggi per il Ricettario di Homebaker è una mia reinterpretazione dei baghrir, o anche chiamati crêpes millebuchi. Una specialità marocchina spesso usata come accompagnamento per piatti dolci e salati, ma io ho voluto proporveli nella versione dolce come quella che ho assaggiato a casa dei miei amici Simone e Ramzi. Ho fatto una aggiunta di zafferano per profumare queste crêpes che vi faranno impazzire. Provatele per la colazione, non vi deluderanno.

Crêpes millebuchi
x circa 24-30 crêpes

330 g acqua
180 g farina homebaker per pizza e pasta 
7 g lievito chimico per dolci
5 g zucchero
2 g sale
1 g lievito di birra
½ bustina di zafferano in polvere

In una ciotola capiente frullate tutti gli ingredienti tranne il lievito chimico e il sale.
Rimescolate con la frusta per circa 4 minuti, poi coprite la ciotola con pellicola alimentare e lasciate riposare a temperatura ambiente per circa un’ora.
Aggiungete il lievito per dolci e il sale.
Rimescolate per pochi secondi, giusto per amalgamare tutti gli ingredienti.
Coprite nuovamente la ciotola con pellicola alimentare e lasciate riposare a temperatura ambiente per circa 20 minuti.
Prendete una padella antiaderente e scaldatela.
Non ungetela e versate un mestolino oppure un cucchiaio abbondante di composto.
L’impasto formerà sulla superficie tante bolle.
Le crêpes sono pronte quando tutte le bolle saranno scoppiate e vengono cotte solo da un lato.
Non sovrapponeteli e conservateli coperti sotto un telo.
Procedete così con tutto l’impasto.
I baghrir sono ottimi con burro e miele fusi insieme in un pentolino.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookboo: Sumac Ladyfingers / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Savoiardi al sumac

And we are baking sweets treats all over again at Maroggia’s Mill. For today’s Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook recipe I propose a classic of Italian pastry…slightly modified. Ladyfingers. Who hasn’t got memories of ladyfingers being stocked, packet loads of them, in the pantry? They were always there, ready for mummy to whip up a good old trifle or a tiramisu. I loved to steal a couple while she was busy preparing the chosen dessert. I loved their soft and yielding consistency and slightly spongy inside. Dipped in tea, but very quickly in order not to run the risk of turning the liquid into a cloudy porridge, they reached the peak of gustative enjoyment. Here is a whole new version flavoured with sumac, a spice commonly used in the Middle East which tastes a bit like lemon. I really like it and I find that it lends itself well to both sweet and savoury dishes. These biscuits are ideal for an alternative and light tiramisu, with yogurt and red fruits or for a fresh and summery trifle.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookboo: Sumac Ladyfingers / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Savoiardi al sumac

 

And we are baking sweets treats all over again at Maroggia’s Mill. For today’s Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook recipe I propose a classic of Italian pastry…slightly modified. Ladyfingers. Who hasn’t got memories of ladyfingers being stocked, packet loads of them, in the pantry? They were always there, ready for mummy to whip up a good old trifle or a tiramisu. I loved to steal a couple while she was busy preparing the chosen dessert. I loved their soft and yielding consistency and slightly spongy inside. Dipped in tea, but very quickly in order not to run the risk of turning the liquid into a cloudy porridge, they reached the peak of gustative enjoyment. Here is a whole new version flavoured with sumac, a spice commonly used in the Middle East which tastes a bit like lemon. I really like it and I find that it lends itself well to both sweet and savoury dishes. These biscuits are ideal for an alternative and light tiramisu, with yogurt and red fruits or for a fresh and summery trifle.

ZZAFF!: Amaretti ticinesi

For this month’s ZZAFF! Episode we offer you a recipe for a sweet ticinese treat which often accompanies coffee at the end of a meal. I’m talking about amaretti, slightly bitter biscuits, crumbly on the outside and soft on the inside, which were born from the need to use egg white left over from the preparation of recipes based on yolk, such as panettone or cream custard. Amaretti are very popular all over Italy, where different types of this biscuit can be found. In fact, those from Ticino are different from the best-known Italian amaretti biscuits, which are round and soft (amaretti di Sassello) or crispy (amaretti di Saronno). The term amaretti comes from the bitter taste given by armelline (bitter almonds) which are added in small quantities, but for convenience I used sweet almonds only adding a few drops of bitter almond flavour.

ZZAFF!: Amaretti ticinesi

 

For this month’s ZZAFF! Episode we offer you a recipe for a sweet ticinese treat which often accompanies coffee at the end of a meal. I’m talking about amaretti, slightly bitter biscuits, crumbly on the outside and soft on the inside, which were born from the need to use egg white left over from the preparation of recipes based on yolk, such as panettone or cream custard. Amaretti are very popular all over Italy, where different types of this biscuit can be found. In fact, those from Ticino are different from the best-known Italian amaretti biscuits, which are round and soft (amaretti di Sassello) or crispy (amaretti di Saronno). The term amaretti comes from the bitter taste given by armelline (bitter almonds) which are added in small quantities, but for convenience I used sweet almonds only adding a few drops of bitter almond flavour.

Seadas

Once you start with fried foods, well…it’s over! Frying makes almost anything irresistible so for today’s recipe I present you a typical sardinian dessert: seadas. Also called Sebadas, they are amongst the most famous Sardinian desserts. Usually made with semolina flour and filled with pecorino cheese and lemon zest, seadas are enjoyed with honey to sweeten them naturally. But let’s find out more about these irresistible fried treats!

ZZAFF! Spampezie

For this month’s installment of ZZAFF! I chose a traditional Christmas recipe. Spampezie biscuits are a typical Christmas treat filled with a mixture of nuts, grated bread, spices, grappa, sugar and honey which are only produced in some Leventina villages. They keep for very long periods and it is said that the families used to send them overseas to their emigrated children. Spampezie are produced only in Faido, Prato, Dalpe, Osco, Chiggiogna or in other municipalities of the lower valley such as Bodio, Personico and Pollegio. Some say that Osco is the homeland of spampezie.
Typically the cookies are pressed into wood shapes that have different shapes. Carved figures recall festivities or represent the coat of arms of a family. The basic preparation method has remained virtually untouched until today: however, everyone has his personal recipe, which is unlikely to be revealed.

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Hazelnut and Liquorice cake / Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Torta di nocciole e liquirizia

Some time has passed since the last cake recipe for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook. One of those simple cakes, easy and quick to bake and offer to friends who come over for a tea or a coffee, or as the perfect finishing touch to a casual dinner. This recipe lends itself well to be customized using other nut-based flours such as almond flour, pistachio flour, or walnut flour. This cake (which I baked in a 15×8 cm mould with 1/3 of the amount of ingredients shown in the recipe written for this post, which requires the use of a ring mould of approximately 23 cm diameter) marries the warm and enveloping taste of hazelnut with the slightly bitter sweetness of licorice. What a perfect match!

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Pistachio and Candied Orange Peel Ciabatta / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Ciabatte al pistacchio e scorza d’arancia candita

Ciabatta mon amour. As you well know, I have tried out and made several ciabatta recipes as its such a versatile dough that I never get tired of experimenting. This time around I wanted to make a version for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook that lends itself beautifully to whip up a quick and delicious bread and chocolate, strictly extra dark, snack. Don’t you agree that pistachios and orange peel are the perfect match to enrich this simple dough? What are you waiting for? Roll up your sleeves!