Cet Torcetti

Preparation steps

• * Original recipe for biellese torcetti with butter
• Crumble the yeast in two tablespoons of warm water and allow to dissolve. Pour the flour into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and two tablespoons of sugar. Make a depression in the middle, add yeast and 250 ml of water. Knead until you get a smooth and homogeneous mixture. Leave the dough to rise for about 1 hour. Meanwhile, work the butter until it becomes soft. Stir in the butter with the excess mixture. Work out briefly and roll into sticks about 1 cm in diameter and about 10 cm long. Roll the shaped “sticks” in crystal sugar and cross their tops, joining the ends together to give them a drop shape. Arrange on a baking sheet, pre-covered with baking paper and bake at 200 ° for about a quarter of an hour.
• If you decide on a faster version I am writing down this recipe with beer
• After preparation, this dough will need to be refrigerated. Weigh all the ingredients and prepare them at hand. Put the flour and butter cut into pieces together with a pinch of salt in the mixer and start making it, but work briefly, so that it does not get too hot. Add the beer and vanilla bean seeds, mix briefly with a mixer, then serve on a lightly floured work surface and continue to knead by hand until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough. wrap it in cling film and let it rest in the fridge. Meanwhile, in a small bowl or saucer, pour the sugar that will be used to coat the torcetta. Prepare a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Turn on the oven at 180 ° C. Take the dough out of the fridge and with the help of a knife cut pieces of dough weighing about 25 g each, working on a cutting board, rolling them with your fingertips. Roll them well in the sugar so that they stick evenly, then cross both ends overlapping each other. Arrange on a prepared baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, taking care not to burn them.
• Torcetti in the photos are in a version with the addition of cocoa, so here is the recipe :)
• Crush and melt the yeast in warm water with a little sugar. In a large bowl, mix the flour with the salt and cocoa. Add the yeast dissolved in water and knead by hand, collecting all the ingredients in a bowl, then process the dough on a work surface or dough board until it becomes smooth and uniform. When you get a smooth and compact dough, leave it to rise in a warm place in a bowl, covered with a clean cloth, for about an hour, ie until it doubles in volume. After the mentioned time, transfer the dough to the bowl of the mixer (if you do not have it you can knead it by hand), equip it with a dough mixing attachment, add the butter previously softened at room temperature, piece by piece, stirring on medium speed. When the butter is completely absorbed, return the dough back to the bowl and leave covered to rise for another hour. If the dough is sticky, add a little more flour and / or flour the sides of the bowl. When doubled, let the dough rest in the fridge for at least half an hour before kneading it. Flour a little on the work surface and divide the dough into small piles of 15 g each (26), which you will shape into rolls half a cm thick and about 15 cm long. Twist, "roll" the ends, then join, cross them and press lightly to fix them. Continue in the same way until you thicken the remaining dough. Roll in crystal sugar, then arrange them on a baking sheet lined with paper, spaced apart. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 ° for about 25 minutes (ventilated oven 160 ° for 20 minutes) or until golden.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the rack.
• Serve and enjoy.