Sweet and soft, one leads to another. It’s Venetian Carnival pancakes or rather the fritòle, very soft balls of dough with grappa, raisins and pine nuts, fried in boiling oil and served warm with a sprinkling of icing sugar. There fritòla in Venice it is an institution and, although it can be tasted all year round in some pastry shops in the lagoon city, it is traditionally eaten in the month of February during the Carnival period. In that month, the streets of the city fill up with masked people and tourists hunting for the last fritòla: classic with raisins and pine nuts, with apples, with ricotta cheese, or large fritòle stuffed until they burst with eggnog, custard and chocolate . If for this year the Carnival of Venice if it is not within your reach, however, you cannot fail to prepare the traditional Venetian pancakes at home. The recipe and the procedure are very simple and a few tricks in cooking are enough to have it on your table the delicious fritòleready to be eaten in minutes!

Preparation

1

In a bowl, soak the raisins with cold water. The water must completely cover the raisins. Let it soak for at least 10 minutes. In the meantime, heat 1/3 of the milk slightly in a glass and dissolve the brewer’s yeast in it, stirring with a teaspoon.

2

Pour the flour into a large bowl and add the dissolved yeast. If you like, you can use a planetary mixer fitted with a speed 2 hook.

3

In another bowl, beat the eggs, then add them to the flour. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the microwave and let it cool.

4

Pour the cold melted butter and the remaining milk into the bowl with the flour and eggs.

5

Finally, add the grappa, the sugar, the seeds of the vanilla bean and a pinch of salt.

6

Mix everything with a spatula until you get a rather coarse and crumbly dough. If you use the planetary mixer, mix with the hook at speed 2 for about 5 minutes.

7

Start working the dough with your hands. You will have to obtain a shiny and soft compound.

8

Drain the raisins from the water. Squeeze it and dry it with a clean kitchen towel.

9

Add the pine nuts and dry raisins to the dough. Knead again to mix the two ingredients evenly, then form a ball.

10

Cover the bowl with transparent film and let the dough rise for about 4 hours at a temperature of 25°. If the room temperature is lower, place the bowl in the oven off with the light on. The dough must triple its initial volume.

11

After the leavening time, take some pieces of dough weighing about 25 grams. Form balls, trying not to leave raisins and pine nuts on the outside.

12

In a narrow saucepan with high edges, heat the peanut oil to a temperature between 160° and 170°. Dip a few balls of dough at a time, so as not to lower the temperature.

13

Fry each ball for about 2-3 minutes, turning them often with the help of a slotted spoon. The pancakes should be puffy and golden.

14

Drain them with a slotted spoon and let them rest for a few minutes on paper towels.

15

Arrange them on a serving plate or tray and sprinkle with icing sugar.

16

Serve your Venetian Carnival pancakes still warm.

Advice and tips

Use plenty of peanut oil for frying. The pancakes will float thanks to the presence of yeast: to ensure uniform cooking take care to turn them oftenrolling them on the surface of the oil, with the help of a skimmer or a ladle.

Pancake dough it must swell during cooking: it is therefore important to use fresh brewer’s yeast and make sure that the dough rises correctly until it triples in volume.

We advise you to measure the temperature of the oil with a cooking thermometer, which you can buy for a few euros online and in physical stores. If you don’t have it, you can dip a piece of dough in the oil: if it produces bubbles and does not turn black, it means that the oil is at the right temperature. If, on the other hand, it becomes dark immediately, the oil is too hot and it is necessary to lower the heat.

You can use white grappa or barricaded grappa to make your pancakes: with barricaded grappa the grappa flavor will be slightly more intense. Alternatively, you can use a spoonful of rum, even if the traditional recipe for pancakes calls for the use of grappa.

If you don’t want to use grappa, you can replace it with a vial of orange flavouring.

Try not to exceed the weight of 25 grams per pancakebecause, if they are too big, cooking them could remain raw inside.

If you don’t like it, you can replace the raisins with apples cut into small pieces.

storage

It is preferable to consume pancakes during the day Venetian Carnival in order to enjoy their flavor and crunchiness to the fullest.

You can still keep them, covered with kitchen film, for 1 day at most in a dry and cool place.

History

Carnival fritters are among the oldest and best-known desserts together with chiacchiere, strips of fried dough also known as “milkshake” or “crostoli”. Carnival fritters were invented in Venice during the 13th century, when the city was strongly influenced by the Arab-Persian tradition, even from a culinary point of view. In fact, the “zelbies“, pancakes with citrus fruits and spices from which the Venetians took the cue to make their own version of pancakes called “fritòle”. The fritòle were so appreciated that they were proclaimed, in the seventeenth century, the official dessert of the Serenissima. Historically they were prepared by “fritoleri”, of cooks who only produced fritòle, so much so that a real profession was established. Nowadays Venetian Carnival pancakes are spread throughout Italy and, although the traditional pancake is the one with raisins and pine nuts, there are several variations with apples, eggnog and custard. Only recently have the pancakes filled with chocolate.