Cornetti are a staple of an Italian breakfast and, like their French counterpart croissants, I had always heard how difficult they were to make.
“People try in Italy,” one of my Roman friends told me, “but they’re never as good as you get in the caffè.”
That sounded like a challenge to me :)
I looked up the recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, The Italian Baker, by Carol Field (available on Amazon). Ms. Field interviewed and baked with Italian bread and pastry chefs throughout Italy, learning their traditional recipes and noting her favorites. She’s also added in instructions for the modern baker (someone using a stand mixer or food processor), which is super handy.
This was going to be a long process. There were multiple rising periods, two of which were 6 hours long to overnight. I sat down and mapped it out backwards, starting from when I wanted to have them ready (Friday around lunchtime, so I could deliver them to friends in the afternoon) and figuring out when I should start baking.
I decided to start the dough Thursday around lunchtime. There was a 2 hour rise, then an “overnight” rise – but instead of overnight I could just give it 6-8 hours and continue that evening, after dinner. At that point I’d incorporate the butter block, let it rise again for about an hour, then do another overnight rise while I slept. In the morning I’d shape the cornetti, let them rise again for almost 2 hours, finish them off with an egg wash and some raw sugar on top, and bake them.
It seems like a lot, but the time you actually spend working the dough isn’t that much. The longest period of actual work is when you form them. The rest – particularly with a stand mixture – is pretty quick and easy.
So how did they turn out, you ask? Well, I was extremely gratified when my Roman friend, after tearing into one Friday afternoon, told me, “This might be one of the best cornetti I’ve ever eaten!”
Thank you, thank you very much :)
GET THE RECIPE with step-by-step photos: http://ift.tt/1qxXra0
bon appetit
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