Homemade Neapolitan sfogliatella riccia made with ricotta, semolina and candied peel. I know, you have been to Naples and were left spellbound! How do you resist the charm of a city so beautiful and rich in contradictions? We visited during this year’s Christmas holidays and guess what? We’ll go back soon, because to visit, live and taste Naples a lifetime isn’t enough, let alone a week!! I said taste and do you know why? Because Naples must be “eaten, devoured, savored” not only with the eyes but also with the palate! Between Margherita pizzas, fried and folded pizzas, fiocchi di neve, pastiere and babà, the indispensable sfogliatelle ricce or frolle are an absolute must to taste between Spacca Napoli and San Gregorio Armeno and the unmissable Rione Sanità. Back home, when nostalgia brought me back to the alleys that smelled of clean laundry and frying, the only remedy to ease the longing was to reproduce at home the same treats enjoyed there, so I started with the original sfogliatelle ricce, homemade following the Neapolitan recipe. It’s true, the appearance isn’t exactly the same, but the flavor is all there and I can’t wait to practice more to be able to make Neapolitan sfogliatelle ricce like at the pastry shop that I loved so much!

Ready to run to the kitchen and discover how to make homemade sfogliatelle ricce like in Naples? Let’s go and please follow all the tips and timings indicated and you’ll see you can make them even prettier than mine! Before you read the preparation, I remind you that if you want to stay updated on all my recipes you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).

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Difficulty: Very difficult
Cost: Inexpensive
Rest time: 12 Hours
Preparation time: 2 Hours
Portions: 25
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

4.4 cups type 0 flour (or manitoba (about 550 g))
0.83 cups water
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp salt
0.75 cups lard (strutto (about 160 g))
2.5 cups sheep ricotta (well drained (about 600 g))
0.75 cups semolina
1.67 cups water
0.85 cups sugar (granulated (about 170 g))
0.67 cups candied orange peel (candied (about 100 g), cut into small cubes)
pinch salt
to taste orange zest
to taste lemon zest
to taste ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks

Tools

Pasta machine
Rolling pin
Pot
Bowl
Oven
Parchment paper
Whisk
Plastic wrap
Knife smooth blade

Steps

The basic dough for Neapolitan sfogliatella riccia should be prepared the evening before baking; it is a very dry mixture that can be difficult to work with, but if you respect the resting times it turns out well.
Put the flour, water, salt and honey in a bowl, mix with a spoon and then begin to compact everything with your hands.
The dough will be dry and hard to work; do your best, then let it rest for 10 minutes and after that time resume kneading.
Continue this rest-and-knead cycle until you obtain a smooth, compact dough. Wait another ten minutes, then stretch it into a cylinder and flatten it.
Begin passing the dough through the widest setting of the pasta machine, going through several times while reducing the setting each time and without ever breaking it. When you reach setting no. 5 or about halfway through the available thickness, wrap the long sheet around a rolling pin. Position the rolling pin elevated between two piles of flour and slowly unroll it, then re-roll from the opposite side (this time without support), spreading a generous amount of lard as you go. As you re-roll, gently pull the dough to make it almost transparent; this will take some time, but going slowly will prevent the sheet from tearing.
Once you’ve formed this new cylinder, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 hours.
Now prepare the filling. Bring the water to a boil, add the salt and little by little whisk in the semolina, lower the heat and stir continuously with a whisk until the mixture thickens. Add the sugar, stir and wait until the mixture regains body and starts to pull away from the pot.
Transfer the cooked semolina to a bowl and let it cool completely, stirring often. When cool, add the dry well-drained ricotta, the orange and lemon zests, the cinnamon, the vanilla extract, the candied peel cut into fairly small cubes and finally the egg yolks.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for the same time as the dough.
After the resting hours, slice the dough cylinder with a very sharp smooth-bladed knife to obtain discs about 3/8 inch thick. Gently push the center of each disc outward to form a cone, supporting the shape with your hands so the cone does not collapse.
As you go, fill the cones with one and a half tablespoons of filling and close them, shaping them into the classic shell form.
Bake at 356°F for 25–30 minutes or until they reach the desired golden color, then remove from the oven and serve with a dusting of powdered sugar.
Sfogliatelle ricce are delightful warm and also good at room temperature. I recommend baking those you will consume the same day; the others can be frozen raw and placed directly in a hot oven when you want to enjoy them. In that case, since they are frozen, they will need a bit more time to bake.