A tasty street food or small restaurant treat from Modena and Bologna in Italy, tigelle can also be made at home! They are soft on the inside and toasty on the outside and can be eaten with savory or sweet fillings, depending on what you feel like eating.
1teaspoon(1teaspoon)dry brewer's yeastor 10 grams of fresh brewer's yeast
200grams(0.82cups)milk
100grams(3.38floz)water
30grams(1.06ounces)lard or shortening
10grams(1.67tsp)salt
Equipment
2 bowls
1 Fork
1 Wooden spoon
1 large wooden board
1 tigelliera, tigelle press or non-stick pan
Instructions
Place the flour and dry yeast in a bowl and mix together. If you are using fresh, dissolve it in one tablespoon of water and add during the next step.
Now add all the liquid (milk and water) and stir together with a fork. Add the room temperature lard or shortening and salt and mix together with a wooden spoon until you get a uniform dough that isn't sticky, you can also use your hands and knead if you prefer. If necessary, you can add a little more flour.
Form the dough into a smooth ball and put it in a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place, such as the oven with just the light on, until it triples in volume, about 3-4 hours.
On a clean flat work space, large cutting board or chopping block, add a dusting of flour. Place the dough onto the work surface.
Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is 1/8 in / 8 mm thick, if you don't have enough room to roll it all out, you can do it in sections. Use a round cookie cutter or the top of a round drinking glass that is 4in / 10 cm across to cut out the round tigelle shapes, set them aside. Make the shapes until you have used all the dough.
If you have a tigelliera, put on medium heat it and use it to cook your tigelle by following the directions the device came with. If you do not have one, use two large non-stick pans. Heat one pan for three minutes until hot and then put the little foccaccias on, cover them with parchment paper and put another pan on top that fits within it and presses down gently on the tigelle.
Cook for one minute over medium flame, remove the pan on top, remove the parchment paper and turn the tigelle over. Put the parchment paper and pan on top again and leave for another minute. You will want to repeat the procedure twice more, cooking for about 4 minutes total (2 minutes on each side).
Once all the dough has been used, you can make your tigelle into either a savory or sweet treat by stuffing them with yummy fillings like cured meats, cheeses, or a chocolate spread, nutella or even jams or jellies. Serve and enjoy!