The Torcetto is a dry pastry naturally leavened, consisting of a stick of dough, covered with sugar and bent where the two ends unite to form an oval-elongated doughnut. The surface of the Torcetto is shiny because it is brushed with water and granulated sugar. The ingredients are: all-purpose flour, water, butter, baking powder, malt and salt.
After baking, the doughnut is golden and has a crumbly texture.
Production Area
The production area comprises the Lanzo Valleys in the Province of Turin and the valleys in the Province of Biella.
How it is made
The ingredients are mixed to obtain a smooth dough. Then it is stretched out in long sticks of about 10 cm and rolled in the sugar. The surface is brushed with water and sprinkled with granulated sugar.
The Torcetti are placed in pans and left to rise for almost 2 hours and then baked in the oven for about 10-20 minutes, according to the temperature.
Once baked and cooled they are ready for packaging: in plastic sachets, trays or carton boxes.
History
The "torchietti (presses)," as they were called in the 1700s for their twisted shape, were already described in the book, "Confetturiere Piemontese," edited in 1790. In the " Cuisine Treatise and Modern Pastry Making" of 1854, Giovanni Vialardi describes three recipes of the "torchietti": the obvious difference is in the use of natural yeast in place of brewers' yeast as used in our days. Sandro Doglio, in his "Gastronomic Dictionary of Piedmont," cites Lanzo as the probable town of origin of the Torcetto.
Traditionally they were created as a pastry with a bread dough base, sprinkled with sugar or drizzled with honey and baked in communal wood burning ovens of the town where families once baked their bread.
Once they were fat sticks of sweet bread, but from the 1800s, they became real pastries, thanks to the use of less unrefined flour and yeast, and above all, the introduction of butter.
At first, they were only for children and then they were presented at the end of the meal in family celebrations (baptisms, weddings, etc.), sometimes accompanied by a light whipped cream sprinkled with ground barley coffee or with zabione egg yolk cream.
Interesting features
Torcetti go well with dessert wines or with Asti Spumante DOCG.
