A sfogliatella (Italian pronunciation: [sfoʎʎaˈtɛlla], plural: sfogliatelle; Neapolitan: sfugliatella), sometimes called a lobster tail in the US,[1][2] is a shell-shaped filled Italian pastry originating from Campania. Sfogliatella means "small, thin leaf/layer", as the pastry's texture resembles stacked leaves.
Type | Pastry |
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Place of origin | Italy |
Region or state | Campania |
Main ingredients | Pastry dough |
Variations | Many types of fillings |
The sfogliatella Santa Rosa was created in the monastery of Santa Rosa in Conca dei Marini in the province of Salerno, Italy, in the 17th century. Pasquale Pintauro, a pastry chef from Naples, acquired the original recipe and began selling the pastries in his shop in 1818.[3]
The dough[4] is stretched out on a large table,[5] or flattened with a pasta maker,[6] then brushed with a fat (butter, lard, shortening, margarine, or a mixture), then rolled into a log (much like a Swiss roll, but with many more layers). Disks are cut from the end, shaped to form pockets,[7] and filled. The pastry is baked[8] until the layers separate, forming the sfogliatella's characteristic ridges.
Recipes for the dough and filling vary. Fillings include orange-flavoured ricotta, almond paste and candied peel of citron.
In Neapolitan cuisine, there are two kinds of the pastry: "sfogliatella riccia" ("curly"), the "normal" version, and "sfogliatella frolla," a less labour-intensive pastry that uses a shortcrust dough and does not form the sfogliatella's characteristic layers.
A variation named coda d'aragosta (in the United States "lobster tail"[9]) also exists, with the same crust but a sweeter filling: French cream, similar to whipped cream.
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