Pitta 'Mpigliata
A traditional Calabrian festive pastry rosette cake filled with spiced walnuts and raisins, then glazed with warm honey.
- Prep
- 45 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Total
- 85 min
- Servings
- 8
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Calories
- 480 kcal
Equipment
- •Rolling pin
- •24 cm round cake tin
- •Pastry brush
- •Mixing bowl
- •Small saucepan
Nutrition
Per serving, approximate
- Calories
- 480 kcal
- fat
- 21 g
- carbs
- 68 g
- fibre
- 3 g
- protein
- 7 g
- calories
- 480 kcal
Instructions
- 1
Mix the flour, olive oil, sweet vermouth, orange juice, and sugar in a bowl until a soft dough forms.
- 2
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for five minutes until smooth and supple.
- 3
Cover the dough with a tea towel and rest at room temperature for thirty minutes.
- 4
Combine the chopped walnuts, drained raisins, cinnamon, cloves, orange zest, and aniseed liqueur in a bowl.
- 5
Preheat your oven to 170°C and brush a 24 cm round cake tin with olive oil.
- 6
Roll the dough into paper-thin rectangular strips roughly ten centimetres wide.
- 7
Scatter the spiced walnut and raisin mixture evenly along the centre of each strip.
- 8
Fold each strip lengthwise in half over the filling, pinching the edges lightly together.
- 9
Roll each folded strip into a spiral rosette and arrange them tightly inside the prepared tin.
- 10
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the pastry turns deep golden and crisp.
- 11
Warm the honey gently in a small saucepan over low heat.
- 12
Brush the warm honey generously over the hot pastry immediately after removing it from the oven.
Chef's tips
Roll the dough as thinly as possible so the pastry bakes crisp rather than chewy. Brushing the honey while the pastry is piping hot ensures it absorbs deep into the layers.
Ingredient substitutions
- sweet vermouth → Marsala wine or extra orange juice for an alcohol-free dough
- walnuts → almonds or a mixture of almonds and pine nuts
Storage
Store in an airtight container or biscuit tin at room temperature for up to two weeks.
Reheating
Warm for five minutes in a 150°C oven if you prefer to serve it slightly warm.
Common mistakes to avoid
- •Rolling the dough too thick, which results in a heavy, doughy centre.
- •Using cold honey, which sits on top rather than soaking through the warm pastry rosettes.
- •Overbaking until the outer pastry becomes too hard to cut cleanly.
Serving suggestions
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