Buccellato Bread from Lucca
Buccellato is a type of sweet bread originally from Lucca, Tuscany. The dough is rich and buttery and is flavored with raisins, orange zest, and anise seeds. Shaped as a ring, spiral, or decorated with a cross pattern, Buccellato is aromatic, flavorful, and usually eaten as a dessert or breakfast food.
In the recipe below, we are using zibibbo raisins, a specialty from Sicily. In Tuscany, you can also find cantucci cookies make with these uniquely flavored raisins. They are soaked in Vin Santo, a wine often paired with desserts. It adds a special flavor and aroma to the raisins. You can find zibibbo raisins on Amazon. They are made in Sicily. Try them!
Ingredients:
- 500 g (3 and 1/2 cups) of unbleached flour
- 50 g (1/4 cup) of sugar
- 50 g (3.5 tbsp) of butter
- 20 g of fresh yeast or 7 gr of active dry yeast
- 2 eggs
- 1 glass of milk
- 50 g (1/4 cup) of Zibibbo or other dried grapes
- 2 tsp of anise seeds
- A pinch of salt
Preparation:
- Mix a fountain in the flour, and then add sugar, butter, yeast, salt and one of the two eggs, milk and some warm water.
- Form a soft ball of dough by gradually including the raisins (possibly softened with some liquor if you are not using the zibibbo variety) and anise seeds. Let the dough rest for about 1 hour.
- After the dough has risen, roll it into sausages with it (or doughnuts), and make a slight cut with a knife on the top of the dough to help it rise. Let it rest for another 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F – gas mark 4). Melt the sugar into the hot water to make a syrup, then pour it over the egg white and beat with a fork until frothy. Brush the buccellato with the syrup of water, sugar and egg white and bake for about 45 minutes, until golden brown. Let it cool completely before slicing.
