A popular street food in Emilia-Romagna, tigelle (also known as crescentine) are flatbreads not too dissimilar from English muffins. They're usually taken straight out of the pan, split open and stuffed with a delicious array of cured meats and cheeses to create a seriously good panini/sandwich. They are prepared with a simple dough based on flour, lard, oil, water and yeast. It is a very small and soft bread, like flat rolls, typical of the mountain areas of the Modena Apennines, which was born as a "poor" food of the mountain populations to become today an indispensable cult in trattorias offering typical products.
Ingredients:
1/2kg of flour; 3 tablespoons of olive oil; 150ml milk; 1 sachet of dry yeast or a block of fresh brewer's yeast; sugar; salt
Preparation:
Dissolve the yeast in ½ glass of warm water and add a teaspoon of sugar. Leave to rest for 10 minutes to allow the yeast to swell. Make a fountain on a pastry board and add the yeast, milk and salt in the center. Mix all the ingredients well to form a smooth and compact ball. Place and leave to rise for 2-3 hours in a covered bowl. Work the dough creating many small balls the size of a walnut. Roll out each ball with a rolling pin to obtain circles of dough half a centimeter thick. Cook the tigelle on the special preheated plate, taking care to brown them well. Serve piping hot with cold cuts, cheese and lard.
Tigelle with Pesto Modenese
Tigelle with Pesto Modenese is very popular street food. Pesto Modenese is a Traditional Agri-Food Product (P.A.T.), a typical condiment of the province of Modena, made with lard. Combined with a sprinkling of grated Parmigiano Reggiano DOP, it is mainly used for the filling of Tigelle Modenesi and borlenghi. Thanks to the heat of the tigella, the lard of the pesto melts and releases rosemary essential oils.
A perfect summer aperitif: simple and quick tigelle, to be cooked in a pan and served with a nice platter of cold cuts and mixed cheeses. Offered at local bars and restaurants offering Tigelle and pincini with salami, our typical appetizer or for a quick snack.
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