Sfogliatelle Lisce

I finally made Sfogliatelle by hand! It was one of my ~Foods To Make Bucket List~ items  for a very long time. In Naples, Italy there are two types of sfogliatelle: One that looks like a shell and is called ricce (curly) and another that's round and smooth called lisce (smooth). I chose the easier Sfogliatelle Lisce for my first time and followed an Italian recipe and like most Italian recipes it was very vague and if you are new to sfogliatella making-- like me-- a bit confusing. I took several pictures along the way so if you decide to try sforgliatella for the first time I offer you  my adapted and hopefully easier to follow recipe..... Buon Appetito !
Ingredients
Dough
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
5 tablespoons butter very cold and grated or shredded
pinch of salt
very cold water: enough to form dough about 2-4 tablespoons
Filling
1 cup water
1/2 cup ricotta
pinch of salt
6 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 cup semolina
1 pinch cinnamon
3 oz. candied orange peel, diced (I instead used the zest grated from 1 whole orange)
Plus: 5 tablespoons melted butter or pork lard for brushing, egg wash for sealing, and powdered sugar for dusting

Directions
Dough: I did mine in the Kitchen Aid with the paddle, add the flour and salt and mix on #2. Then add the butter and mix until blended. Then drizzle in the water until it starts to form, check by stopping and pressing together to see if it is able to be formed into a ball by hand. Now take it out and from into a ball and knead a few times, add some flour if too sticky. Wrap in plastic and rest on counter for an hour or over night in fridge.

Filling: Bring the water to a boil, add a pinch of salt and pour in the semolina, stirring with a whisk so as not to form lumps. Lower heat to medium low and cook, stirring now with a wooden spoon constantly (you can take rests) for 5-8 minutes. It will start to scrape up from the bottom of the pan when it is done, if you go past this it will stick and become too hard.  When you do this you will think you are doing something wrong because it is so darn sticky and you will think your arm will fall off! I took rests here and there and the dough was fine. After all that effort in the end all you will be left with is a little mass of sticky glob but do not fear : ) When done remove from heat scrape out with a spatula and set on plate to cool.

Little Mass of Sticky Glob waiting for it's transformation

Mix the above cooled semolina with the ricotta;  the 6 tbs. sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and the candied peel or zest.
Forming the Sfogliatella Lisce
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 brush each with the melted butter and then  place one on top of the other and then roll up the stack of dough.Wrap in plastic and set in fridge for 10 minutes.

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. Place a tablespoon of custard in the middle, add egg wash to edges, flip over, and seal. Place on buttered cookie sheet.

Brush the sfogliatelle with melted butter or pork lard and place on buttered sheet.  Bake in a pre-heated oven at 425°F for 20 min. Remove from the oven. Brush with melted butter again, lower the temperature to 350°F and bake for another 20 min. Let cool, sprinkle the sfogliatella with confectioner's sugar and serve.

Recipe courtesy of The Italian Trade Commission with adaptions and photos by Ann Minard