Scarcelle from Puglia (Scarcelle Pugliesi)
1 hour 40 min. Recipe Yield:
4 pcs Difficulty:
Medium recipe
Scarcelle from Puglia (Scarcelle pugliesi) - In Puglia, there is no Easter without scarcelle, one of the most classic dishes of this period. Like most traditional Easter baking recipes, this one also uses simple ingredients like eggs, flour, milk and butter to give life to a special shortcrust pastry often seasoned with lemon zest! The shape varies, but adorable rabbits, beautiful baskets or stylized doves are the most common, but the donut shape remains the most original. Egg white and icing covering them is optional, there are those who don't prefer it and those who instead completely cover the scarcel and then decorate it with sprinkles, colored sugar balls and the ubiquitous hard-boiled eggs as a sign of rebirth and Easter symbol. To please even the smallest ones, a hard-boiled egg is often replaced with small chocolate eggs, or sugar figurines.
Recipe Ingredients
Cooking Recipe
The Apulia Scarcell recipe is very simple. First, cook the dough. Pour flour onto a cutting board, add baking powder and granulated sugar. Season with the grated lemon zest (leaving the lemon aside because you will need it later for the glaze), add the lightly beaten egg and, starting to knead with your hands, slowly pour in the oil first, and then the milk. Having obtained a homogeneous and elastic dough, give it a spherical shape, then cover with a kitchen towel and leave for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Once the dough has rested, divide it into 12 equal pieces of approximately 75 g each. Roll each piece of dough into a sausage about 30 cm long. Weave a braid from three sausages, connect the ends and put the donut on a baking sheet. Continue in the same way for the rest of the pieces until you have 4 donuts. Bake the donuts in a preheated 180°C (355°F) oven for 50-55 minutes.
Once cooked, transfer the scarcelles to a wire rack and let them cool. At this point, you can start preparing the glaze. Pour the egg whites into a bowl and, starting to beat them with a whisk, pour in the lemon juice. Once the mixture is foamy, gradually add the powdered sugar to get a very creamy consistency.
Cover the cooled scarcelle with icing, sprinkle with multi-colored sugar figures, in the middle you can put chocolate eggs, a sugar figure of a chick or a rabbit. Allow glaze to set and serve. Ready scarcells can be stored for 2-3 days under glass or in polyethylene.