Cooking Italy: Ciambella (Grandmother's Pastry Ring)

The recipe for the Cooking Italy group this week is Ciambella (Grandmother's Pastry Ring), found on page 592-593 of the cookbook we are using:  Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.  

 

The recipe itself is quite easy:  butter. flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk, and lemon peel (and in my case I added the juice of a fourth of a lemon because my dough was a little dry as sometimes happens with differences in air temperature, brands of flour, and well, you just can't possibly ever have too much lemon, now can you?), all the ingredients are pretty much staples found in your refrigerator and pantry. 

 

The whole mass gets stirred together, kneaded for a bit to bring it together, and then rolled into a 2 inch sausage shape, formed into a ring, placed on a baking sheet, and brushed with a little egg yolk water mixture before it heads into the oven for a 35 minute stint.   

The directions say to wait until it cools to cut it, but there was no way I was waiting to cut warm lemon bread straight from the oven, nope, no patience for that...the house smelled of lemony goodness and I figured waiting was for sissies.  Or something along those lines. 

 

It's very good.  Good alone.  Good with lemon marmalade.  Good with a little butter.  Good warm.  Good at room temperature.  Good with tea.  Or not.  It's not too sweet, and has a kind of biscuit-y feel to it (probably all that baking powder), and breaks nicely into small pieces. Best of all:  it's very lemony! 

 

Definitely a winner, definitely a keeper, and yes, there will definitely still be some left when the guys come home this evening.  That's the plan now anyway.  Just kidding, it makes a huge ring, and I am sure you could reduce the recipe and just come up with a smaller ring, probably need to adjust the baking time if you do that, however, by just a little. 

 

Am loving this cookbook and the recipes in it and so is my family, the recipes are easy and yet flavorful.  I have learned so many techniques that produce the wonderful flavors.  If you would like more information on the Cooking Italy group, want to see the menus and schedules, and want to see fabulous food and photos, visit Angela's site here.