Zeppole
Zeppole are small Italian fried dough balls, a fixture at street festivals and on Saint Joseph's Day. This ricotta version gives them a soft, moist, cottony inside scented with lemon zest, and the fun part is that you just drop spoonfuls of batter into the oil and they roll themselves round.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total time
- 35 min
- Method
- Fried
Ingredients
Ricotta batter
Frying and dusting
Instructions
Step 1
Put 250 g ricotta, 100 g eggs, 30 g granulated sugar, 5 g vanilla extract and 3 g lemon zest in a bowl and whisk until completely smooth. The ricotta needs to be whisked loose so there are no lumpy curds left in the zeppole. The mixture is ready when it is as smooth as cream and an even pale yellow.
Step 2
Sift 165 g all-purpose flour, 8 g baking powder and a pinch salt into the ricotta and fold gently with a flat spatula. Mixing only as much as needed keeps them tender, while overmixing makes them chewy and less puffy. The batter is ready when it is thick and sticky, holding its shape on the spoon before slowly slumping.
Step 3
Heat to taste oil for deep-frying to about 175°C, then use two small spoons or a cookie scoop to drop walnut-sized balls of batter into the oil and fry for about three to four minutes, turning them gently. Small balls let the moist ricotta center cook through before the outside darkens. They are done when they flip themselves over, puff up round and are evenly golden brown all over.
Step 4
Lift the zeppole onto a wire rack lined with paper towels, let them cool for about a minute, then sift 30 g powdered sugar over them and serve while warm. Draining them only briefly keeps the sugar from getting soggy and clumping. They are just right when they wear a fine coat of sugar and break open to show an ivory, airy, moist inside.
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Deep skillet
- Thermometer
- Wire cooling rack
- Sieve
- Kitchen scale
Tips
- If your ricotta is watery, let it drain in a cloth-lined sieve for about thirty minutes before you start so the batter does not turn runny.
- You can add a splash of rum or a little orange oil to the batter for a more fragrant result.
- Fry one ball first and break it open to check the inside, then adjust the size or temperature for the following batches.
Storage
Zeppole are best eaten within an hour of frying. Leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for one day and rewarmed in the oven at 160°C for about five minutes before dusting with sugar.
Common problems and how to fix them
- The zeppole split open and leak oil.
- The oil was too hot, so the outside hardened while the inside was still rising. Lower the heat to about 175°C and fry them a little longer.
- The zeppole turn out flat and greasy.
- The batter is too loose because the ricotta was watery. Drain the ricotta well or add a little more flour until the batter holds its shape on a spoon.
This recipe is based on the common ratios for this bake and is written entirely in our own words.
