Name: Panini di Pasqua (Spicy Easter Rolls)
Yield: Makes 16 rolls
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 egg white; 2¾ cups plus 1 tablespoon (14 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons for the raisins; ½ teaspoon sea salt; ¾ teaspoon ground coriander; 1½ teaspoons cinnamon; 5 tablespoons Vin Santo; ½ teaspoon ground cloves; A large pinch of saffron; if you are using threads, dissolve them in the Vin Santo; 3 juniper berries, flattened with the side of a cleaver; 2 cups (10 ounces) raisins; ¾ cup (3½ ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour; ½ cup milk plus 2 tablespoons, warmed to 105° to 115°F. for active dry yeast, 95° to 105°F. for fresh yeast; 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; Sponge; ⅔ cup plus 2 tablespoons water reserved from soaking the raisins; 1 tablespoon active dry yeast or 1⅓ cakes (½ ounce) fresh yeast

Preparation info

Makes
16
rolls

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

In Nonna's Kitchen

By Carol Field

Published 1997

About

These spicy Easter rolls are like hot cross buns with a lot of character. They are eaten with a hard-boiled egg in Arezzo and surrounding areas on the day of Easter, but I would eat them all year round. The dough is essentially the bread of every day with the addition of such special ingredients as Vin Santo and saffron and a number of tantalizing spices that include cloves, cinnamon, coriander, and even juniper berries. Two millennia ago, Romans sprinkled flowers and powdered saffron on th