CookEat Recipe
Pizza a Libretti: Fried Pastry Booklets
Very thin buttered egg pastry folded into small booklets, fried so the cut layers open, and dusted with icing sugar.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Gather the ingredients: About 250 g plain flour, adjusted as needed for a soft rollable dough, plus a little for dusting; 2 eggs; A pinch salt; 3 tablespoons anise liqueur, traditionally fumetto; cognac is a source alternative; 20 g butter, melted; About 600 ml suitable frying oil, or enough for the pan; only part is absorbed; About 1 tablespoon icing sugar for dusting.
Step 2
Mix the eggs, salt and anise liqueur with enough flour to make a dough that is not too stiff. Start with about 220 g flour and work in more as needed, kneading until smooth. The total flour is an estimate because the source leaves it unmeasured. Rest covered for about 15 minutes as a practical aid to rolling.
Step 3
Roll the dough as thinly as you can on a lightly floured surface. Brush evenly with all 20 g melted butter. Fold the sheet repeatedly over itself into a flat long strip about 10–11 cm wide, keeping the buttered faces inside rather than rolling a tight round spiral.
Step 4
Cut the folded strip in half LENGTHWISE to make two narrower strips. Cut these across at intervals of about 5–6 cm to form rectangles. On each rectangle press together only the outer folded edge that was NOT cut: this is the booklet spine. Leave the cut edges unsealed so the layers can fan open.
Step 5
Heat a generous depth of frying oil to about 170°C in a deep-sided pan. Fry the rectangles in small batches for about 2–4 minutes, turning carefully, until golden, fully cooked to 74°C and opened into fine crisp leaves along the cut edges. Drain and dust with icing sugar just before serving.
Step 6
For the cognac alternative, use three tablespoons cognac instead of the three tablespoons anise liqueur and follow the same method. The source also mentions drinking spirit; use only a labelled food-grade potable product suitable for cooking if choosing that option, never industrial alcohol. No version is claimed alcohol-free after frying.
Cooked it? Rate it.
Cooked 0 times