Ingredienti
Flour, 500 g
Sugar, 250 g
Butter, 200 g
Eggs, 1 whole, 6 yolks
Vanillin, 1 sachet
Lemon, 1 grated zest
Salt, 1 pinch
Preparazione
- Put the flour on a pastry board and make a hole in the centre of it. Add in it some butter previously softened at room temperature.
- Gently beat the egg and the yolks with the sugar, then blend them with the flour and with the rest of the ingredients.
- Knead this mixture and let it rest in the fridge for at least two hour, rolled up in transparent cling film.
- After two hours, heat the oven at 200 °C and knead the dough a bit. Cut it in pieces of 100 g each. Make 30 cm long cylinders and link their two ends together. If you like to give them the “S” shape, take some 15 cm long sticks, large approximately as your fingers, and use them to get the desired shape.
- Arrange the bussolai on a baking tray previously covered with baking paper. Bake them for 15 minutes at 200 °C. Hence, reduce the temperature to 150 °C and keep baking for 10 minutes more.
Once baked, don’t worry if the biscuit look a bit soft: they’ll get harder when they cool down.
Curiosities
These pastries are direct sons of an ancient bread that brings the same name, a sort of cookie-bread baked just enough to make it crispy both outside and inside. It’s worth repeating that this cookie-bread was paramount for Venetians, people of sea, as it was prepared by many different bakeries, directly run by the Serenissima, and served since the 1400 to mostly German workers, under the direct surveillance of marine authorities. The shape of the bussolai is that of big ovoid or rounded breadsticks. They are characterized by a unique fragrance and a irresistible taste, thanks to the traditional ingredients used to prepare them.