Sfogliatelle: Italian “Leaf-Layered” Pastry
Jessica, why make sfogliatelle? Do you hate yourself?
I was feeling particularly masochistic during the Imola Grand Prix and so, inspired by the famously fail-filled showstopper bake from Series 8 of the Great British Bake Off, I decided to tackle sfogliatelle. Between making the dough, over-night resting, several hours of rolling/stretching/buttering, then resting overnight again I recommend giving yourself a good 1.5-2 days minimum to make these delightfully tricky pastries. Follow my tips below to help save yourself some time, energy, and avoid a potential catastrophe.
Sfogliatelle versus Lobster Tail pastries
Sfogliatelle are identifiable by their many, many wafer thin layers shaped into a cone and filled with semolina & ricotta filling, and then baked. A sfogliatella is akin to a “lobster tail” pastry. However, unlike a traditional sfogliatella, a lobster tail is typically filled with a creme puff pastry/pâte à choux, baked to puff up, and then filled with whipped cream after baking. But honestly, if you Google “lobster tail recipes” you’ll see sfogliatelle right at the top, so don’t worry too much about the name. They are cousins.
Having fun with flavours: Limoncello, Tiramisu, and Pistachio
The most challenging part of making homemade sfogliatelle is the dough, but once you’ve tackled that beast you have tons of space to play around in flavour-country!
Traditionally, a sfogliatelle is filled with semolina & ricotta flavoured with vanilla extract and orange zest. For this recipe I wanted to be a bit more adventurous and mixed in some of my favourite Italian flavourings into the basic semolina base. When I was ready to fill my cones of sfogliatelle dough it was just a matter of setting up a filling assembly line.
Disclaimer: I know pistachio pudding mix might be a bit controversial, but as a small-town Canadian girl I grew up on this artificial neon green goo and it is just super comforting for me. If pudding mix is not your thing, feel free to substitute with pistachio extract and a touch of green food colouring (optional). Pistachio extract can usually be found at Eastern European grocery stores as its very popular in Ukrainian & Russian desserts.
Tips for making Sfogliatelle
Tip 1: Use a food processor to make the dough
I attempted to make my dough 3 times, twice in a KitchedAid mixer with a paddle attachment, and last in the food processor. The results speak for themselves.
Food processor – perfectly even & smooth 
KitchenAid fail – uneven liquid distribution
Tip 2: Don’t rush the resting
Once the dough is formed into a ball the dough needs to rest for at least 4 hours, if not overnight. To save yourself a bit of waiting time I recommend making your dough ball in the morning, since its very quick and easy to do, and then letting it rest for the afternoon and rolling out in the evening. Once stretched and rolled into a log the dough will need to rest again overnight.
Tip 3: Use a motorized pasta maker
Hand cranked pasta machines are the devil, I don’t understand why anyone with a KitchenAid mixer would ever buy a manual pasta machine. The motorized machine attachments are a little pricey, but in my opinion they’re worth every penny. You can absolutely use a manual pasta machine, however you will be rolling out approximately 14 meters of dough, so give yourself extra time.
Tip 4: Skip the rolling pin method
Many recipes I read advocated for stretching your dough with a pasta machine and then spooling the stretched dough onto a rolling pin before starting the stretch/butter/log process. I followed this step on my first attempt and, after spending about an hour lovingly stretching my dough through my pasta machine, ended up with one big block of dough merged around my rolling pin – argh!
On my second attempt I simply cut out the middle “rolling-pin” man, and I ran one piece through the pasta machine and then moved straight into the stretching/butter/log process. Once my previous piece was fully rolled into my log I repeated the process. This worked much better for me, and possibly because I also followed Tip 5.
Tip 5: Make sfogliatelle with a buddy, many hands make for fast work
Once you get into a rhythm of rolling out the dough, stretching, buttering, and rolling into a log you won’t want to be washing butter off your hands in between steps. To make the sfogliatelle process a bit of date night, my husband and I each poured a glass of wine and settled into our roles – he was “butter-fingers”, and I the “roll and stretcher”. Teamwork makes the sfogliatelle dream work!
Tip 6: Watch a tutorial on shaping, then watch it again – and keep everything cold!
I am by no means a pro at this, so I’ll leave the shaping tutorials to the professionals. My first 2 were pretty ugly, but by sfogliatella #3 I had a good feeling for the pressure and speed needed to slowly separate the layers evenly into the clam-shell shape. If you’re doing this in a hot kitchen consider only taking a few discs out of the fridge at a time because once the butter between the layers started to melt the dough will become a gloopy mess.
Tip 7: Use a piping bag for the filling
I learned a little too late into my sfogliatelle filling that it is pretty awkward to hold the shell open when its so soft and delicate, and almost impossible to get enough filling into the cone with just a spoon. A piping bag will allow you to cram-jam the delicious filling all the way down to the bottom of the cone and keep your assembly line nice and tidy.
and finally, Tip 8: Do NOT package your sfogliatelle in an airtight container
I was in a rush to finish my sfogliatelle in the morning before heading out to drop off treats for my neighbours (Greg and I did not want 24 pastries in the house…dangerous). So, once the pastries were baked I let them cool to room temperature, I popped the pastries into a little ziploc bag and set out to drop them off. One neighbour ate them straight away and they were crispy and delicious, the other waited until the next day and they had lost all the crisp and turned soggy and chewy. A very frustrating lesson to learn, but better me than you. You’ve been warned.
Sfogliatelle: Limoncello, Tiramisu, and Pistachio
Crispy, sweet, and pain-staking to make – Sfogliatelle is one pastry that every Italian dessert fan should attempt.
Equipment
- Food Processor
- Pasta Machine
Ingredients
Sfogliatelle Dough
- 500 grams all-purpose flour
- 10 grams salt
- 190 ml luke warm water
- 30 grams honey
To Roll Out
- ½ cup butter, softened
Filling Base
- 450 ml milk
- 100 grams sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 150 grams semolina flour
- 475 grams ricotta, full fat Italian
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
- 2 eggs
- 1 orange, zested (skip if doing a flavour below)
Pistachio
- ⅓ recipe Sfogliatelle filling base
- 1½ tbsp pistachio pudding mix
- ¼ cup chopped pistachios
- 1 tsp icing sugar dusting
Tiramisu
- ⅓ recipe Sfogliatelle filling base
- 2 tsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp fine espresso powder
- 1 tbsp cognac or brandy
- ½ tsp icing sugar dusting
- ½ tsp cocoa powder dusting
Limoncello
- ⅓ recipe Sfogliatelle filling base
- 2 lemons, zested
- 2 tbsp limoncello
- 1 tsp icing sugar dusting
Instructions
Make the dough
- In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt for 2-3 pulses to combine.
- In a measuring cup, mix the honey and luke warm water together.
- With the food processor running, slowly pour the honey water in a slow stream into the flour . Blend until the water is evenly distributed and the dough is the texture of wet sand. Remove the dough from the mixer and knead the dough a few times on the counter to bring it together.
- Wrap the dough in cling film and rest the dough in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight.
Roll Out Process
- Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into 5 pieces, covering with cling film to avoid drying them out. Take the 1st piece and press into a flat oval disc about 1 cm thick.
- Using a pasta machine, roll out the dough down gradually until you're using the thinnest setting (#8). Unlike fresh pasta, you do not need to laminate this dough, and try not add any additional flour while using the pasta machine. I highly recommend using an electric KitchenAid pasta maker attachment.
- Once your dough has been ran through the thinnest setting it will be the width of about 15 cm but we need to stretch it out wider, about double to 30 cm. Lay the dough on a long counter and gently stretch the dough to about double the width and lightly press the edges onto your counter to prevent the dough from shrinking back, it should be almost translucent. It is important to get a good starting roll, so at the end start tightly forming a thin log to begin your sfogliatelle roll.
- As soon as you have a good starting point to your roll you can begin spreading on the butter. The process will go stretch, butter, roll, repeat. When rolling be sure to pull the log down a bit to create some tension, this needs to be an extremely tight roll or else you will have problems down the road.TIP: Rub the butter between your hands first and then lightly smear it across the pastry in an even layer. Even better, delegate the butter spreading role to a buddy. Once you have almost completed rolling the first piece, repeat the process with the next portion of dough until all 5 portions have been rolled into a thick log.
- Wrap the dough in cling film and rest overnight in the fridge.
Filling
- In a large saucepan, heat the milk, salt, and sugar together until gently simmering. Remove from the heat and add your semolina flour. Stir until smooth and then set aside to cool.
- Once cooled, transfer your semolina mixture to a bowl and beat in the ricotta, vanilla paste, and eggs. The final texture should be smooth and thick enough to comfortably pipe.
- If making multiple flavours, divide the filling into three bowls and add your flavour elements.
- TIP: This is where the fillings can be customized, so play around with what you like and (if you don't have a problem with raw eggs) taste the filling and see what it needs. If your mixture is too thick add a bit more milk, and if its too thin add more semolina.
- Once you're happy with the flavouring, scoop the filling into a ziploc bag and trim the corner for a make-shift piping bag. If making ahead of time, chill the fillings in the fridge.
Assembly & Baking
- Preheat your oven for 375°F
- Setup your filling piping bags so they are ready to go as you will need to work fast.
- Remove your dough log from the fridge and, with a very sharp knife so as not to smush the layers, cut into about 1.25cm slices and set on a baking tray. Cover both sides of the disc with softened butter or shortening.
- Working on one disc at a time, lightly press the disc flat and then using your thumb and fingers make an impression on the center and slowly fan out the layers to create a cone shape. This does take a bit of practice but just try to feel out the cone and use the 4 fingers to gently coax out the layers. The end result should look like a shallow ice cream cone or clam shell.
- Pipe your filling into the sfogliatelle cone, about 1.5-2 tbsp per cone, and then gently close the top. This doesn't have to be a tight seal, just a gentle press together. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly for 1-2 minutes, then dust with icing sugar while still warm.
- Enjoy with a glass of Limoncello over ice.
