{"id":30682,"date":"2021-07-09T15:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/?p=30682"},"modified":"2024-06-02T15:44:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-02T13:44:40","slug":"ciambella-of-imola-recipe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/en\/ciambella-of-imola-recipe\/","title":{"rendered":"Traditional ciambella of Imola recipe"},"content":{"rendered":"

This traditional ciambella of Imola is a recipe from San Domenico, a starred restaurant in the small Romagna town where I was born and raised. I could say it is a starred ciambella.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, I wrote a cookbook with a journalist friend.
\nThe book Presto ch’\u00e8 pronto, written by a journalist friend and me was born as a community project. The idea was to donate the funds to the local Caritas Diocesana to help families in need. When I told Valentino Marcattilii and Max Mascia, chefs at San Domenico in Imola, two Michelin stars for almost 50 years, about the project, they made themselves available. They gave us a recipe contribution that enhanced the book, later published by my city’s publishing house.<\/p>\n

This recipe is a tribute to my city, Imola, known by that name. And yes, even star chefs make simple pastry cakes like ciambella.<\/p>\n

\"Ciambella<\/p>\n

How many ciambella recipes exist?<\/h4>\n

More than eleven million content dedicated to the ciambella exist on the web.<\/p>\n

As a child, I had one certainty: all ciambella that came out of the oven at home were good.<\/p>\n

As an adult, I have found that ciambella cakes often have a boring taste, sometimes even an annoying texture. For instance, I consider disturbing chewy ciambella, perhaps because of a leavening problem, and those that turn to crumbs in the first bite. In this case, the cook probably used little liquid or fat, which helps hold the dough together when cooked. Small caveat: distinguish the crispy bite, associated with copious crumb production, from the disaster I just described.<\/p>\n

But how do you recognize a boring ciambella from an amazing one?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

From the endless combinations of flour, sugar, milk, and eggs come ciambella, which are similar but different.<\/p>\n

If there was someone who, when you were a child, made this cake for you, recover that recipe. The best ciambella is the one that cradles, raises, and educates your palate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grandma Sara used to make many different kinds of ciambella.
\nOf course, it is the classic ciambella romagnola without the hole in the middle. Some were soft and with ricotta or yogurt or mascarpone in the dough. Others had such firm dough that they fit in the oven without needing a mold. Belonging to this kind is the one filled with Nutella<\/a><\/strong>, which I used to eat in the summer and which we used to buy in the bakery in the villages of Romagna, where we went to the seaside on vacation. Or the dry one to accompany the sweet wine grandma made in summer and winter when guests were there.<\/p>\n

The ciambella is a simple dessert, but the adjective should be understood.<\/p>\n

Simple does not mean mixing with little grace and no love of the ingredients in a bowl. It does not mean taking a recipe, maybe a good recipe, and eliminating sugar and butter to make it dull and the same as a thousand other ciambelle, all without taste.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Make a good ciambella, taste it, and then, if you like, come back here in the comments to tell me if you noticed the difference.<\/p>\n

\"Ciambella<\/p>\n

The traditional ciambella of Imola<\/h4>\n

This recipe has the characteristics that good ciambella must have for me: it comes out of the oven fragrant, sustains the cut smoothly, and, upon tasting, takes you back to the kitchen of when you were a child. All this for a few euros. Power of (good) cooking. I’ll leave you with a few cooking notes to keep in mind:<\/p>\n