If you feel like making something spectacular but at the same time super tasty, the savory ricotta brioche flower is ideal. This isn’t the usual leavened dough: it’s soft, light and fragrant, enriched with ricotta that makes it cloud-like, and filled with a creamy mixture of ricotta, cheeses and cooked ham that will make you fall in love. A perfect recipe to enhance your table on any occasion: from family gatherings to Easter Monday picnics, for a meal away from home or a savory snack with friends. It stays soft and tasty even in the following days. Below, let’s see together how to prepare our delicious savory ricotta brioche flower:
Other recipes with ricotta:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 50 Minutes
- Cooking time: 35 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Oven
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 6 3/8 cups flour (half 00 and half Manitoba)
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2/3 cup ricotta (+ 2 tablespoons milk)
- 1 1/4 tsp fresh baker's yeast (about 12 g fresh (see note))
- 1 tsp malt
- 7 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 egg yolk (for brushing)
- as needed sesame seeds
- 2 cups ricotta
- 3/4 cup grated cheese (half Parmesan and half Pecorino)
- 7 oz provola or smoked scamorza
- 11 oz cooked ham (prosciutto cotto)
Steps
Dissolve the yeast in the slightly warm milk. Prepare a bowl with the sifted flours mixed together with the malt, make a well in the center and add the milk, the eggs, the ricotta softened with two tablespoons of milk and the oil.
Knead vigorously, by hand or with a stand mixer, until you obtain a homogeneous and soft dough. At this point add the salt and continue working the dough until it becomes elastic and well structured.
Transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for at least two hours, until it doubles in volume.
While the dough rests, prepare the filling: mix the ricotta with the grated cheeses until you get a smooth cream, slice the provola or smoked scamorza and have the cooked ham slices ready.
When the dough is ready, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and divide it into two equal portions. Roll them out with a rolling pin to obtain two discs about 3/8 inch thick.
Spread the ricotta and cheese mixture evenly over the first disc, add the slices of ham and the cheese slices, then cover with the second dough disc, placing everything on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
At this point place an inverted bowl at the center with a diameter of about 4 inches to mark the area not to be cut. Cut 16 wedges and join them in pairs by twisting them from the base toward the tip, creating “petals”.
Cover the flower and let it rise again for 1 hour. Before baking, brush the surface with the egg yolk and sprinkle sesame seeds only in the center.
Bake in a preheated oven at 356°F for about 30-35 minutes, until completely golden. Remove the savory ricotta brioche flower from the oven and let it cool slightly before serving.
Enjoy and… see you with the next recipe!
If you try this recipe, be sure to tag #ipasticcinidinina on Instagram so I can see it and share it with the community.
