The San Biagio donut and its cult are very widespread throughout the Abruzzo region. It is customary to prepare sweet donuts whose essential ingredient is anise, they are very fragrant, and they are generally blessed by the priest in church on the occasion of the Saint and then distributed among relatives and friends.
Originally, it was prepared with bread dough enriched with anise seeds. Nowadays, they can be found throughout the Abruzzo region, with slight variations on the theme, available in various types of dough.
In L’Aquila, where these donuts are typical, San Biagio Day coincides with the Anniversary of the earthquake of 02/03/1703.
Before this date, despite the calendar, carnival was never celebrated out of respect for the victims of that event.
In honor of the Saint, sweet donuts decorated with sugar granules and candied cherries are prepared. There are different versions, but they are all very fragrant.
The recipe I propose is one of the variants of the San Biagio donuts that are sold during this period around the holiday.
Prepare it, and it will be a delightful dessert to serve!
Approximately 395 Kcal per person
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 3 Hours
- Portions: 1 donut
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Region: Abruzzo
- Seasonality: San Biagio
Ingredients to make the San Biagio Donut
- 5 teaspoons whole milk
- 1.76 oz all-purpose flour
- 0.35 oz fresh yeast
- 18.34 oz all-purpose flour
- 2 medium eggs
- 5 fl oz whole milk
- 3 tablespoons anise seeds
- 4.58 oz sugar
- 1.76 oz butter
- 1 Donut mold donut mold
Preparation of the San Biagio Donut
In a small bowl, put about 5 tablespoons of warm milk with the fresh yeast, dissolve it, add the flour intended for the starter, and form a soft dough.
Let it rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours or until doubled.
At this point, take the mixer (it can also be done by hand, but if you have the mixer, you will get a better and faster result), put the doubled starter, add all the required ingredients, and mix first at low speed, then increase a little, working for a few minutes.
Transfer the obtained dough into a large bowl and let it rise again for about 2 hours or until it doubles again.
After this time, take the dough, shape it into a donut, place it in a pan about 11 inches in diameter, greased and floured or with parchment paper, let it rest again until it doubles and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for about 20 minutes.
Halfway through the rising, I inserted a glass greased on the outside because the central hole was closing too much.
They can be eaten hot or cold.
