As an appetizer, a snack, instead of the usual bread,donzelle are a great offer.
Just to describe them ,Donzelle are little puffs of deep-fried bread dough and they get different names in different Italian area.
Donzelle are perfect as a delicious accompaniment to any antipasto platter and are traditionally enjoyed with Italian cheese and salami.
With the arrival of the good Season we think of dishes served al fresco for a group of friends,so what’s the best next to a charcuterie board with cheese, salami, olives, sun dried tomato if not the donzelle.
Ingredients:
flour 00/all purpose 400 gr.= 2 cups
fresh yeast 20 gr.=1.3 tbs.
E.V.O.O. 4 tbsp.
Fine salt 1 tsp.
Water 1 cup ( it maybe necessary more)
seed oil(sun flower,grape,peanuts)
Preparation
Dissolve the yeast in 1/3 of the given water.
Mix the flour with the yeast and the salt ,until the dough comes off your hands.
Make the dough into a ball, place it in a bowl, make an X on the top and leave it to rise for 1 hour.
Then knead it with your hands
Divide the dough into small portions
Roll them and cut in 10 cm/ 3.9 inches lengthwise.
Fry in hot oil until golden.
When dropped into the hot oil they will sink to the bottom, but within a few seconds they puff up and rise to the top. It’s best to turn them halfway through with a wire spatula to ensure they cook evenly.
Take them out of the oil with a strainer ladle. Lay them on a piece of kitchen paper
Sprinkle with salt and serve hot.
Curiosity
May be the name derives from the fish of the same name – the Mediterranean rainbow
wrasse in English – because that’s exactly what they look like when swimming around in the
frying oilor more simply they look like grafeful dancing girls.Donzelle is actually the ancient word for girls.
They look like our American donuts. A different shape, but maybe the same flavor. Thanks for sharing.
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Fantastic recipe! If I may remark, I noticed that this recipe is similar to the youtiao (fried dough crullers) in China. (There’s also a version in the Philippines, albeit rolled in sugar right after frying.) I surmise this is among the many things Marco Polo, alongside his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo, brought back from the East?
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Thank you for underlining the similarity with the youtiao. We have many similarities with the cuisine of other countries because it is the common cuisine of the people. Marco Polo’s imports arrived much later, like the spaghetti that already existed in Pompeii centuries before.
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Oh, actually I tried only sweet donuts.Interesting.
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