For this week's appointment, we offer you one of the tastiest recipes for a Neapolitan: the typical Babà!
The Neapolitan tradition so varied and colorful boasts one of the best known and loved sweets in the world, among the most typical of our cuisine. Which are you thinking about? Let's talk about the Baba! With its fragrant softness and its "mriacata" rum she can and will always be able to delight the finest palates.
This beautiful and soft dessert is unusually different from the classic pastry classics because it uses the yeast, which is generally used for pizzas and focaccias. It is precisely for this reason that it is thought that it was born as a pan grown to be "drenched" in delicious liqueurs on holidays.
The heading Cook in the Neapolitan, then, after having already delighted with the typical ricotta cheese and pears cake, offers you the ancient recipe in which mother yeast is used, more properly known as "criscito".
Ingredients
- 400 gr weak flour
- 160 g butter
- 40 g sugar
- 100 g of yeast
- 400 gr of whole eggs (about 6)
- 8 gr of salt
Yeast preparation
This recipe starts from the mother yeast, which must be carefully cooled the day before preparing the dessert (if you don't have any, just prepare a pre-dough 2 or 3 hours before, to be grown at least 2 hours, with 50 grams of flour, 20 grams of yeast and enough water to knead the dough).
Dough
Once you have obtained the dough of the pre-dough or mother yeast, you will need to add the flour, salt, sugar and knead until these ingredients are absorbed. Then, in chunks, also incorporate the butter, leaving some aside to grease the mold that will go into the oven. Finally the eggs, one at a time. I recommend doing this process with the use of an electric mixer, if possible.
Bake the Babà
Once the dough is obtained, we grease the mold well and, after having it inside, we will have to put the Babà to grow again until doubling its volume. As soon as it has grown, we bake it at 170 ° for 40-45 min.
Once ready, the baba will have to rest for one night, during which it will first have to cool down and lose all its moisture.
Wet the cake
To wet this fantastic dessert, Neapolitans usually use at least half a liter of rum liqueur lightened, however, by a syrup made up of 70% sugar and 30% water and flavored with lemon zest. After having well soaked and decorated with fresh fruit and / or tufts of cream, the Babà will be ready to be served!
Notes from the cook
Obviously you can also use the appropriate molds for the single-portion version of the dessert and, alternatively, propose it to friends with a bath at Limoncello.
