Sfogliatella riccia
She rolled. She stretched. And stretched again. She went round
after round to dominate this Italian stacked-leaf, ricotta- enriched
semolina custard pastry. And one early morning,
as I helped Alana Crupi, my star caker, stuf a batch of
doughy cones she’d crafted, we simultaneously started crying,
overwhelmed by the beauty of what she made and the journey it
had taken to get to that morning. Ain’t no pastry-making gonna
hit you as hard as sfogliatella. Alana, you are my baking Balboa!

This is bare-knuckle, brawling (and/ or bawling) baking 101.

Enter the ring with nothing less than a winner’s mindset and
your sfogs will make you feel like you are running up those
Philly steps. This one’s for you, Champ!
Cue ‘Eye of the Tiger’.

Prepare for the ricotta filling the day before and drain the ricotta in a
paper towel–lined sieve in the refrigerator.

A filling made with wet ricotta will be hard to pack into the pastry and the
baked sfog will soften faster. If you can’t do overnight, drain for as long as
you can.

The next day, set up for rolling by securing a hand-cranked (non- negotiable)
pasta machine to the bench. You want to set the machine
50 cm (19¾ in) away from the corner of the bench top so it is easy for
you to stretch the dough feeding out of the pasta machine.

On the stovetop or in the microwave, soften the lard to a smeary,
loose cream consistency (one-quarter melted), then stir well and set
up with a pastry brush. You will need to re-soften the lard throughout
the rolling process. Have a bowl of cornflour close by to use whenever
you feel stickiness start.

Although it’s important to keep the lard soft, be careful not to take it too
far. Too-melty lard is slippery and won’t form a defined separation between
the dough.

continued …
Keeps Best eaten warm on the day
of baking. Or keep chilled overnight
and re-crisp in the oven.

Makes 8 sfogs. Takes Start the dough and drain the
ricotta the day before, then you’ll
spend a mindful hour rolling and
shaping. Make the filling while the
sfog log rests.
250 g (9 oz) lard (see ‘Lard
averse’ in Adaptrix, page 220)
cornflour (cornstarch),
for dusting
2 × batch Stretchy dough  –
Sfogliatella Adaptrix
(page 78), kneaded together,
rested overnight and
unstretched
cooking oil spray
30 g (1 oz) unsalted butter
for baking
Semolina ricotta filling
300 g (10½ oz) ricotta
250 g/ ml (9 oz) full-cream
(whole) milk
40 g (1½ oz) caster (superfine)
sugar
2 g (¹⁄₁₆ oz/¼ teaspoon) fine
sea salt
50 g (1¾ oz) fine semolina
40 g (1½ oz) egg yolk
(from approx. 2 eggs)
2 g (¹⁄₁₆ oz/ ¼ teaspoon) vanilla
paste
2 g (¹⁄₁₆ oz/1 teaspoon) freshly
ground cinnamon
finely grated zest of 1 large
orange or 2 mandarins
15 g/ ml (½ oz) rum or grappa
To finish
icing (confectioners’) sugar,
for dusting