Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (73 page)

1 deciliter (about 2/5 of a cup) of orange-flower water

Mix the two kinds of wine; thoroughly wash the aniseed, and put it to soak in some of this liquid.

You can begin in the late evening:

Step 1:
Mix the brewer’s yeast with half a glass of lukewarm water, letting it absorb enough flour to make a loaf of the right consistency. Place the loaf on a mound of flour in a bowl, and cover it with a layer of the same flour. Keep the bowl, protected from drafts, in the kitchen, if you don’t have any place warmer in your house.

Step 2:
The next morning, when the loaf has risen well, place it on a pastry board, spread it out, and mix it again with an egg, a tablespoon of oil, a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of wine, and enough flour to make a larger loaf; blend everything together well without kneading it too much. Put it back on the mound of flour and cover it as you did with the smaller loaf.

Step 3:
After six or seven hours (it will take that long for the loaf to rise again), add three eggs, three tablespoons of oil, three of sugar, three of wine, and enough flour to form another loaf and let it rise again, just as you did the other loaves. To gauge the right point of fermentation, calculate that the loaf should grow to about three times its original size.

Step 4:
Add five eggs, five tablespoons of sugar, five of oil, five of wine, and the necessary amount of flour.

Step 5, the last step:
Add the three remaining eggs and all of the remaining ingredients. Melt the butter and blend well to obtain a smooth dough. If the dough should turn out somewhat soft, which isn’t likely, add some more flour to give it the right consistency.

Divide and shape the dough into three or four balls, and put each one in a baking pan on a sheet of paper greased with butter; the paper should extend well beyond the edge of the pan. Since the fermentation becomes slower as you add more and more of the ingredients, you can speed it up the last time by putting the balls of pastry to rise in a warming oven. When they are nicely puffed up and quivering, use a brush to coat them first with orange-flower water and then with egg yolk. Bake in the oven at a moderate temperature. Remember that this last step is the most important and the most difficult. Since the balls of dough are large, too much heat might quickly cook the surface, leaving the inside raw.

If you carefully follow this recipe for homemade Livomo-style flat cakes, they may not be as light as the ones from Burchi’s in Pisa, but to make up for it they’ll be more flavorful.

6 eggs

170 grams (about 6 ounces) of fine powdered sugar

170 grams (about 6 ounces) of Hungarian flour or extra-fine flour

lemon zest (optional
)

First beat the egg yolks with the sugar, then add the flour (dried on the fire or in the sun), and after working the dough for about half an hour, pour in two tablespoons of beaten egg whites to soften the mixture. Then add the rest of the ingredients, blending slowly.

You could also beat the eggs on the fire as in recipe 584, Neapolitan Cake. Bake in the oven.

6 eggs

250 grams (about 8-4/5 ounces) of confectioners’ sugar

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of wheat flour

50 grams (about 1-/2/3 ounces) of potato flour

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of butter

lemon zest

Using a wooden spoon, mix the egg yolks, sugar, and a tablespoon of both kinds of flour for at least half an hour. Beat the egg whites until firm and add to the mixture. Stir slowly, and when the whites are thoroughly blended, use a sieve to sift in the two types of flour, which you have dried in the sun or on the fire. Bake in the oven or in a Dutch oven in a baking pan that makes the cake come out three fingers high, but first grease the pan with cold butter and dust with confectioners’ sugar mixed with flour. You can also use the following method to prepare cakes like this that are made with beaten egg whites: first beat the egg yolks with the sugar, then toss in the flour, and after thoroughly working the mixture, beat the egg whites until firm and pour in two tablespoons to soften the mixture. Then add the rest of the beaten egg whites and blend very slowly.

6 eggs

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of powdered sugar

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of flour

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of vanilla-flavored chocolate

Grate the chocolate and put it in a bowl with the sugar and the egg yolks and stir with a wooden spoon; then add the flour and work the mixture for more than half an hour. Lastly, beat the egg whites, add, and mix gently. Bake as in the preceding recipe.

500 grams (about 1 pound) of flour

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of fine powdered sugar

160 grams (about
5-2/3
ounces) of butter

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of cracklings

60 grams (about 2 ounces) of lard

4 tablespoons Marsala or white wine

two whole eggs and two yolks

lemon zest

Once you’ve made the dough, working it as little as possible, add the cracklings, minced. Grease a copper baking pan with lard and pour in the dough, pressing it down with your knuckles to even it out (though the surface will not be smooth). But don’t let it be more than a finger high.

If you want to serve the cake in pieces, cut it into squares with the tip of a knife before you put it in the oven. Repeat this operation when the cake is halfway done, because the cuts close up easily. When it’s done, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of sugar

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of candied fruit, in very small pieces

120 grams (about 4-1/4 ounces) of fine bread crumbs

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of sultanas

lemon zest

First blend the egg yolks with the sugar until they become almost white; add the bread crumbs, then the candied fruit and the sultanas, and lastly the egg whites, beaten until firm. Blend gently so that the egg whites don’t go flat, and when the mixture is thoroughly blended, pour into a baking pan greased with butter and dusted with flour or bread crumbs; the batter should be about two fingers high. Bake in the oven. After you’ve baked and sprinkled it with powdered sugar, this cake will look like a sponge cake.

To serve ten or twelve people, double the ingredients.

My Marietta
¹⁰⁶
is a good cook, and such a good-hearted, honest woman that she deserves to have this cake named after her, especially since she taught me how to make it.

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of extra-fine flour

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of butter

80 grams (about 2-213 ounces) of sugar

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of sultanas

one whole egg and two yolks

a pinch of salt

10 grams (about 1/3 of an ounce) of cream of tartar

a teaspoon or 5 scant grams (about 1/5 of an ounce) of baking soda

20 grams (about 2/3 of an ounce) of candied fruit, in tiny pieces

lemon zest

about 2 deciliters (about 415 of a cup) of milk

In wintertime, soften the butter in
bain-marie
and then blend it with the eggs. Add the flour and milk a little at a time, then the rest of the ingredients except the sultanas, cream of tartar, and baking soda, which you should keep for the last. But before adding them, work the mixture for at least half an hour and dilute it with the milk until it’s the right consistency—not too liquid, and not too firm. Pour into a mold twice as large as the amount of batter, deeper than it is wide, so that when it rises it doesn’t overflow, and it will come out in the shape of a round loaf. Grease the sides of the mold with butter, dust with powdered sugar mixed with flour, and bake in the oven. If it turns out right, it should rise a great deal, and have a puffed-up, dome-shaped top with cracks in it. This panertone is worth trying, because it’s much better than the Milanese-style pancttone that’s sold commercially, and isn’t much trouble to make.

This is a sweet bread that will do honor to classic Bolognese cooking because it’s tasty eaten by itself, and can also be served for dunking in any liquid.

500 grams (about 1 pound) of flour

180 grams (about 6-1/3 ounces) of sugar

180 grams (about 6-1/3 ounces) of butter

70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) of zibibbo raisins

50 grams (about 1-2/3) coarsely chopped pine nuts

30 grams (about 1 ounce) of candied citron, in small slivers

8 grams (about 1/3 of an ounce) of cream of tartar

4 grams (about 1/6 of an ounce) of baking soda

2 eggs

a deciliter (about 2/5 of a cup) of milk

Mix the sugar with the flour and form a mound on the pastry board. Make a hole in the middle of the mound, where you will put the butter, eggs, and milk; the milk should be lukewarm, mixed with the cream of tartar and baking soda, which You’ll see will have already begun to ferment. Knead it all together, and when the dough is thoroughly mixed, open it and add the pine nuts, candied citron, and rasisins.

Knead the dough again so that all of the ingredients are thoroughly blended, and then make two oblong loaves just over a finger high. Gild with egg yolk, and put immediately in the oven or Dutch oven.

1.7 kilograms (about 3-3/4 pounds) of extra-fine flour

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of sugar

200 grams (about 7 ounces) of leaven dough

150 grams (about 5-1/4 ounces) of butter

50 grams (about 1-2/3 ounces) of lard

4 deciliters (about 1-2/3 cups) of milk

2 deciliters (about 4/5 of a cup) of Marsala

2 tablespoons rum

6 eggs

1 teaspoon of baking soda

a pinch of salt

lemon zest

If you use the exact amounts indicated above, the flour should be just right to obtain a dough that’s the proper consistency.

As I’ve said before, by leaven dough I mean pre-prepared dough used to make bread rise.

The lemon for the zest should be freshly picked.

Combine the leaven dough in a bowl with half of the milk. Leave it surrounded by a finger-deep layer of flour. Put the bowl in a warm place, protected from drafts, and when it has risen (depending on the season, this will take eight to ten hours), reshape it and make it bigger by using the rest of the milk and as much flour as you need. Wait until it has risen again and is thoroughly puffed up (this will also take eight to ten hours). Then put it on a pastry board and knead it with the rest of the flour and all of the other ingredients. But knead it vigorously until the dough becomes tender and all of the ingredients are thoroughly blended.