Pane fritto

[Charles Phillips]

Eating in a pretty downmarket trattoria today, the waitress brought a basket of bread fatto in casa, and told us that one of the breads was 'fried' (she had spotted we were English!).

It was absolutely delicious - very light bread dough, rolled in corn flour (I think, she said it was mais, but it was not as finely ground as the usual 'cornflour', maybe it was fine semolina) - and then deep fried (in sunflower oil). It was sliced, so it had been cooked as a small loaf - I would say a small ciabatta size. She told us that the dough was the same as they used for pizzas, and it took very little time to cook.

Anyway, the nearest recipe I have found is here Il 'pane fritto' | Zia Iris.com

This recipe is suggesting smaller fried 'rolls' - I suppose it depends whether you have a home or restaurant sized deep fryer, and though the recipe thinks it is a Ligurian speciailty, our Tuscan trattoria was determined it was local!

[PAS 55]

Did you have any black pudding with it.

[Carole B]

Must admit, I've never heard of it up here. I'll have to ask around. It does sound rather nice though (but heaven knows how many calories... )

I can remember my DH frying stale focaccia in very hot EVOO in times gone by! Now that was tasty. It was browned and crispy outside and became warm and soft inside, but you had to eat it quickly, but oh the indigestion , or it became like a 'fried' brick!

[Gala Placidia]

I had not heard of it before. I guess that they rolled the pieces in "polenta" or the type of cornflour it is used for celiac sufferers so that they would not stick together. I also found this recipe, but they use lard for the frying process:
Crescentina (deep-fried bread) | Recipes | Academia Barilla
It must be very nice to eat, but you would not like to count the calories and the cholesterol.

[alma]

In December our neighbour made fried bread rolls (among other things) for Sunday lunch. We are in Liguria . She was making the dough as we arrived so they were very quick to cook. I could ask her her how she makes them next time we go if anyone would like to know.

[Licciana]

Would this be similar to Sgabei, but more in the form of bread rather than hollow "rolls"?