Torcetti di Saint-Vincent

Torcetti di Saint-Vincent

Scroll for the english version.

Ingredienti:
per circa 32 biscotti

100g di acqua tiepida (45° circa)
2g di lievito di birra secco
190g di farina 0 per pizza
1g di sale
40g di burro
buccia grattugiata di limone

zucchero semolato per guarnire

Preparazione:

sciogliete il lievito nell’acqua tiepida. Versate la farina e il sale nella ciotola dell’impastatrice. date una mescolata veloce a mano per amalgamare. Aggiungete ora il burro a tocchetti, montate il gancio a foglia (quello per la pasta frolla) e impastate per 2 o 3 minuti finché avrete ottenuto un composto sabbioso. Aggiungete ora l’acqua, sostituite il gancio con quello per impastare e impastate fino ad ottenere un composto liscio e omogeneo.

Formate una palla con l’impasto e riponetelo a lievitare in un contenitore oliato finché sarà raddoppiato di volume o quasi. Quando sarà raddoppiato sgonfiatelo, rivestitelo con della pellicola e riponete in frigo per un minimo di un’ora e un massimo di 24 ore.

Togliete l’impasto dal frigo e stendetelo in un quadrato di circa 20cm di lato. Con una rotella per pizza tagliate il quadrato in quattro strisce e poi tagliate le quattro strisce a loro volta in altri 8 strisce in modo da ottenere tanti piccoli rettangolini. Mettete dello zucchero semolato in un piattino. Con ogni rettangolino formate dei cordoncini di circa 15cm di lunghezza, ripassateli nello zucchero in modo da ricoprirli tutti, attorcigliateli tenendo un capo in una mano e l’altro nell’altra e girando con la mano destra in avanti e quella sinistra indietro; uniteli come vedrete in foto.

Adagiate mano a mano i torcetti di Saint-Vincent così formati e un po’ distanti tra loro su una teglia ricoperta di carta forno. Copriteli con un canovaccio pulito e lasciate lievitare in un posto caldo e lontano da correnti per circa 20 minuti o finché saranno leggermente cresciuti. accendete il forno e portatelo a 160°. Infornate per circa 25-30 minuti o finché i biscotti saranno dorati e croccanti. Sfornate e lasciate raffreddare su una gratella.

English version

Torcettini di Saint Vincent
(Adpated from A Baker’s Tour by Nick Malgieri)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water, about 45C (110F)
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (or 1 tsp instant yeast)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lime/ lemon zest or 1 tsp crushed anise seeds
40gm 2 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
about 1/3 cup granulated sugar for rolling the cookies

Method:

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, in a small bowl and keep aside.
Put the flour and the salt in the food processor bowl (or a largish regular bowl if kneading by hand) and pulse a couple of times to mix. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the butter is well mixed and the flour-butter mixture looks powdery.
Add the yeast-water mixture and pulse till it all comes together as a ball. Do not over process or knead. Place the ball of dough in a oiled bowl, turning it so it is well coated with the oil. Cover the bowl, and let the dough rise quite a bit. This dough does not really double in volume, but it should look “puffy” after about an hour or so. When you pinch off a bit from the top you can see the interior looking a bit like honeycomb. Press down the dough and deflate it, wrap it in cling warp and refrigerate it for at least one hour or up to 24 hours.
When ready to make the cookies, take the dough out and lightly roll it out into an approximately 6” square. If the dough feels sticky, scatter a little sugar on it. Using a pizza wheel cut the dough into four strips of equal width. Cut each strip into 6 equal pieces, by cutting across, making a total of 32 pieces. The measurements are not very critical in this part because this just makes it easier to have 32 equal sized bits of dough, as compared to pinching of bits of the dough.
Roll each piece into a pencil thick “rope” about 5” long. Sprinkle a little sugar on your work surface and roll the “rope” in it so the sugar crusts the dough uniformly. Form the “rope” into a loop crossing it over before the ends.
Place the Torcettini on parchment lined baking sheets, leaving 1 1/2″ between them. Leave them for about 20 minutes or so till they rise/ puff up slightly. They will not “puff up” much, like bread, but the “puff” will be visible.
Bake them at 160C (325F) for about 25 minutes till they’re a nice golden brown. Cool the cookies completely, on a rack. Store them in an air-tight container at room temperature. Although, I found them best the day they were baked. This recipe makes 24 cookies.

Some tips that might make a difference to your Torcettini –

1.       For a variation on these biscuits, you can make them chocolate flavoured.  If making chocolate Torcettini, remove 2 tbsp all-purpose flour and add 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder.  Also add 2 tbsp powdered sugar and replace the lemon zest with orange zest while making the dough.

2.      Once your Torcettini have been shaped, don’t let them rise for longer than 20 minutes. If you do, your Torcettini will more bread-like on the inside due to the extra “rise”.

3.      To make sure the Torcettini dough does not rise for more than 20 minutes, it’s a good idea to work on shaping the 2nd batch while the first batch is in the oven.

4.       If you do not want to use parchment paper, you can grease you cookie sheets and place the shaped Torcettini dough on them directly. Just remember to take them off the sheets while they’re still hot. You will need a spatula to the dislodge them, and do so carefully so they don’t break. Once they’re cool, the caramelised sugar on the Torcettini make them stick to cookie sheets and they become difficult to dislodge without breaking them!