APULIAN PANZEROTTI – SECRETS AND TIPS INFALLIBLE BARI RECIPE is one of the recipes that I personally love the most, and as such, it is worthy of all respect, because the panzerotto is a serious matter here in Apulia. In this regard, I recommend you also read the recipe for Apulian Beer Panzerotti. In particular, I’m talking about Bari panzerotti … Online, we see many recipes related to this delicious dish… I’m showing you mine which comes from a very successful personal experience. Naturally, in Bari, everyone experiments with their own recipe with or without milk. The traditional recipe is without milk, I’ve tried both versions, and I must admit that with milk, the dough comes out softer on the inside and crunchy on the outside, but that doesn’t mean that if you prefer, you can replace it with an equal amount of warm water. … As for the filling, it can be of various types, not just mozzarella and tomato with pecorino and pepper, but I prefer parmesan, and also meat and other ingredients that always have mozzarella as a base. It’s easy to say I’ve made panzerotti… if you make a dough like many others… Here below, I give you real tips on how to prepare them perfectly and without even dirtying your stovetop too much. All these tips that I will illustrate have naturally been given to me by my dear friend from Bari, who wishes to remain anonymous… because she doesn’t want it to be said that her secrets and tips about panzerotto are spread here and there… but she couldn’t resist my persistence in knowing. To make these panzerotti, I used this super handy tool that closes them perfectly and helps those who can’t seal them well by hand. You can find it on Amazon by clicking here. So here below are the recipe and tips for amazing panzerotti
If you generally like panzerotti, read below
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 2 Hours
- Portions: 15
- Cooking methods: Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 308.42 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 43.17 (g) of which sugars 3.44 (g)
- Proteins 13.69 (g)
- Fat 10.32 (g) of which saturated 4.47 (g)of which unsaturated 2.53 (g)
- Fibers 0.89 (g)
- Sodium 595.49 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 5 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 10.58 oz re-milled durum wheat semolina
- 8.82 oz All-purpose flour
- 5 fl oz water (warm)
- 5 fl oz milk (optional, if preferred you can replace with an equal amount of water, they will be delicious still)
- 0.35 oz salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 0.28 oz fresh brewer's yeast (If you want even less for fried panzerotti))
- 6 tbsp tomato sauce (or peeled tomatoes)
- 2.2 lbs mozzarella
- 4 tbsp Grana Padano cheese, grated (or Canestrato pugliese or pecorino romano optional)
- 5 leaves basil
- to taste salt
- 34 fl oz peanut oil (for frying)
Tools
- 1 Mold for panzerotti
- 1 Pan
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Work surface
Preparation
Pour warm water in a bowl
Add milk (optional, if you are lactose intolerant, you can substitute it with warm water in the same quantities, milk makes it more tender and ensures that the panzerotto is crispy outside and soft inside, but if you prefer, use water, this adding or not adding milk to the Bari panzerotto is still a topic of discussion, but I assure you that the difference is evident. That doesn’t mean you can’t choose freely)
Add the fresh yeast.
Add a teaspoon of sugar.
The extra virgin olive oil.
Stir until the yeast is well dissolved.
Now add the flours little by little
Work by hand (if you have a stand mixer, this is also perfectly fine using the dough hook)
Add the other flour and all-purpose flour.
When the liquids have absorbed the flours, pour onto the work surface and add fine salt.
Work the mixture for at least 10 minutes until you obtain a smooth ball
let it rise for 2 hours in a bowl covered with plastic wrap.
In the meantime, cut the mozzarella into pieces.
In another bowl, pour in the peeled tomatoes and mash with a fork.
Now mix the tomato into the mozzarella.
Add the basil leaves.
Stir everything with a spoon and add cheese (I used Grana because I prefer it, but Canestrato pugliese or Pecorino are also fine.)
Add a pinch of salt
Pour everything into a strainer with a bowl underneath
This way, the mozzarella liquid will drain. If you put the mozzarella directly into the panzerotto, the liquid can leak during frying, compromising everything. Sometimes I do this step the night before to get dry mozzarella the next day.
After two hours, the dough has more than doubled.
Take pieces of 80g each from the dough. I got 10 pieces.
Form balls
until the dough is finished.
Cover with a tea towel. Let rest for 1 hour.
In the meantime, I suggest covering the stovetop with aluminum foil sheets. Doing so ensures you won’t even need to clean the kitchen after frying the panzerotti.
After 1 hour the balls have doubled.
Use a rolling pin to roll out the ball
This is the thickness, I advise you to make them so thin. The Bari panzerotto is thin.
Fill the center of the circle with a generous amount of mozzarella and tomato.
There are various ways to close a panzerotto. You can close and seal with the wheel.
The result is this
Or pressing the edges well with the tines of the fork, being extremely careful not to pierce the dough.
Or curling the dough diagonally
Or using a really handy tool by positioning the dough disc on the tool
fill it in the center
close by gently pressing and remove what comes out
The result will be this, a smaller panzerotto but perfect in shape.
At this point, fry in plenty of peanut oil. I recommend not preparing the panzerotti in advance and then frying them one after the other, but making them just before frying because otherwise, they would continue to rise and open during cooking. Fry at most two panzerotti at a time.
Our Bari panzerotti are ready to be enjoyed almost piping hot and cheesy.
Tips
As I already mentioned above, I recommend making the panzerotto just before frying and frying a few at a time.
If you want to solve the problem of the frying smell after making panzerotti, I recommend cleaning the kitchen normally and then heating some fabric softener in a small pot. Once warm, remove it from the heat and place it at the entrance of the kitchen. You’ll see that the bad smell of frying will disappear, leaving behind an unmistakable clean scent.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Where did the Apulian panzerotto originate?
The panzerotto originated in Bari. It is said that a housewife used leftover bread dough with the intention of making a pizza. She filled it with tomato and mozzarella and folded it into a half-moon, frying it.
How can I fill the panzerotto besides the traditional filling of tomato and mozzarella?
Actually, the fillings are endless, from meat to turnip tops to sausage and broccoli rabe. Or with the addition of ham.
