That is the Bolognese recipe for non-Bolognese chifel.
It sounds bizarre, I know. Now I’ll tell you the story.
The recipe for chifel (or chiffel or kipfel) demonstrates how recipes are travelers with great adaptability.
From Austria, Kipfel means half-moon in German. And it is the shape created by Viennese baker Peter Vendier to celebrate the defeat of the Ottoman army that had come to besiege Vienna in 1683. The baker cooked the first German Crescent-moon brioche, similar to the French one, which was and still is the symbol of Turkey.
The sweet leavened pastry, not to be confused with Kipferl, Viennese cookies and also crescent-shaped, has no potatoes in the dough, unlike the Bolognese chifel recipe.
In fact, the name Chifel indicates several different products.
Chifel is the sweet Viennese brioche and the roll from Trentino without potatoes in the dough. And also the fried potato cake typical of Trieste (of which there is also a savory but still fried version).
The recipe, in all its variations, was widespread in the countries belonging to the former Austro-Hungarian Empire (which at one time also included Trentino Alto Adige and Friuli Venezia-Giulia.
In Bologna, think, both savory versions of chifel were widespread, with and without potatoes in the dough.
Chifel bread without potatoes
For some historical sources, the first time a Bolognese baker presented bread “in the use of Vienna” happened at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1867.
Many Bolognese people complained about the quality of the bread, to the point that in the first half of the 19th century, German bakers opened their own stores offering so-called luxury bread in the form of rolls called chifel. This bread did not have potatoes in the dough, as in the Trentino tradition.
On the other hand, the connection between the city of Bologna and the Germanic area was strong because of the high presence, since ancient times, of German-speaking students attending university here. For their conspicuous presence in town, the owners of many osterie (inns) hired German waitresses.
You know, the recipes go around with people.
Potato chifel
I connected for the first time potato chifel to Bologna, was while leafing through Bologna in the Kitchen: family recipes since 1880. The book tells the story of the Atti family business that still produces Bolognese pastries, bread, and pasta in the Quadrilateral.
The collection also welcomes recipes from their workers accepted among the bakery products of the Attu family. For instance, below the savory potato chifel, you read the sign that is Marta, 1930s.
The version with potatoes in the dough probably follows a different migratory flow, like that of the women from Trieste who, since the 1920s, arrived in Bologna in search of work and would find as cooks and maids.
In the early part of the twentieth century, these fluffy potato buns were well known in Bologna, when the expression to give the fold to the chifel meant to complete a job with an unnecessary ornament.
Thus began the research I have just told you. Before ending, I would like to share a tasty anecdote reported by journalist Gabriele Cremonini again about the Atti bakery. He wrote that a group of Bolognese biassanot (night-chewers, i.e., night-bird) looked out of a trapdoor to ask the baker at work Are you the one who gives the chifel fold?
Cooking notes on the preparation of chifel
- despite the presence of salt, the dough looks salt-free;
- brush the surface with egg yolk diluted with a tablespoon of water before baking. It will be smoother to spread. Or, as I did, choose a mixture of water, olive oil, and oregano (lighter and more fragrant).
- Serve the freshly baked chifel with a charcuterie and cheese board, mortadella mousse, or borlotti terrine.
Buona cucina, Monica
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Potato chifel (bread)
Ingredients
- 200 g of 00 flour + the amount for the cutting board
- 5 g of baking powder for savory doughs
- 200 g of boiled and peeled potatoes
- 30 g of olive oil
- 1 regular egg
- 5 g of salt
For brushing
- 100 ml of water
- 1 regular tablespoon of olive oil
- dried oregano or thyme to taste
Instructions
- Mix in a bowl flour and baking powder.
- Add potatoes mashed with a fork or potato masher.
- Then add olive oil, egg, and salt.
- Crack the egg with a metal spoon and mix for two minutes.
- Transfer the mixture to a clean, well-floured work surface and knead for a few minutes.
- Let rest in a covered bowl, out of the refrigerator, for 15 minutes.
- Dust a cutting board with flour and roll out the dough thinly, using a rolling pin, to a height of about 3 mm.
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees (374F).
- With a pasta cutter wheel or a knife, form squares 6 cm on a side. Remember two things about this dough: it is very elastic, and if it sticks a little to the cutting board, use a spatula.
- Take the tip of a square and fold it inside, creating a roll shaped like a crescent moon.
- Arrange the chifel on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper that you should not grease or wet.
- Mix water, olive oil, and dried oregano in a glass. Then brush the surface of the chifel with the mixture.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Serve the chifel warm.
Food tips
- You can make smaller or larger chifel by choosing the size you prefer. Small ones are perfect for appetizers. In this case, put a small cube of cheese or a taggiasca olive in the center. Large ones are more suitable for the bread basket.
- During the cooking in the oven, the dough does not rise noticeably. The yeast needs to make the chifel softer.
- You can store them out of the refrigerator for a couple of days and in the freezer for two weeks.
