This is one of my favourite Sicilian pastries. I have not yet made it successfully but believe that persistence pays off and will keep trying!
If you live in an area where fresh figs are readily available I would suggest you give this a go - the taste is quite unique and very enjoyable.
Buccellato(Dough Ring)
Ingredients: 300g/ ¾ lb/ 2 cups white flour 150g/ 6 oz/ ¾ cup lard or butter 100g/ 4 oz/ ½ cup granulated sugar 125ml / 4 fl. oz/ 8 tbsp Marsala 300g/ ¾ lb/ 2 cups figs, cut up 100g/ 4 oz/ 1 cup toasted almonds 100g/ 4 oz/ ½ cup plain semi-sweet chocolate, broken up 50g/ 2 oz/ ½ cup walnuts, shelled 1 egg yolk 50g/ 2 oz/ ½ cup chopped pistachios pinch of cinnamon pinch of salt 1 lemon
Preparation time: 3 hours
Method: Work the lard or butter into the sugar and flour on a pastry board, together with half the Marsala and a pinch of salt. When you have obtained a smooth dough, wrap in a tea towel and leave to rest for about two hours.
Prepare the filling by putting into a saucepan the cut up figs, the toasted almonds (roughly chopped up with the walnuts), the grated lemon zest, the chocolate, the remaining Marsala and a pinch of cinnamon. Simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
With the aid of a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. Pour the cooled filling into the centre, roll up the dough and join the ends to make a ring.
Pierce the surface with a fork and place on a greased baking tray. Bake in a hot oven for 30 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven.
Beat an egg yolk energetically and, using a pastry brush or a little cotton wool, spread it over the dough ring. Sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and bake a further five minutes. Turn off the oven and leave to cool before removing the cake.
From: Cooking in Sicily by Eufemia Azzolina Pupella
I ate this nearly every day on my first trip to Sicily. It was common in Palermo and Agrigento though from enquiring it does not seem to be well known on the east coast of the island.
I attempted to make this twice when I was still living in London, my first problem was being unable to find fresh figs, so I used canned - as a result I could not get the filling as firm as it was in Sicily, also, once the mix was made up, there seemed to be far too much filling for the pastry available.
Add to that a crappy oven (really crappy!) so when the dish was baked the outside was crisp to burnt in places and the inside edge of the dough ring was raw!
I do have better facilities now and also a source for fresh figs, but Marsala is extremely hard to come by in Ireland, though I think I have found one supplier now, so if all goes well, I will be trying this again soon.
My grandma used to make something similar to this with dates. I don't think it had wine in it either but the dough, nuts & sugar sound the same. It was delicious. Good Luck let us know when you have perfected it.
I am very interested in making this dessert, but I was wondering if the figs were fresh or dried? It seems like the dried would make a stiffer filling and would make the pastry available during the off season. (And most of the year is an off season!)
In the recipe I have it calls for fresh figs, but I think dried would actually work well - there is enough moisture from the other ingredients that the dried figs would work.
Give it a go and let us know how you get on. You might just give me something to do with all those dried figs I have sitting in the cupboard.
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