Prep
30 minutes, plus 1 hour rising
Cook
35 minutes
Serves
About 12 rings
Difficulty
Moderate
Region
Sicily and Calabria
What you’ll need
Ingredients
- 2⅞ cups semola rimacinata Semola Rimacinata →
- 1⅛ cups warm water
- ⅛ oz dried yeast
- 1⅔ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil Extra Virgin Olive Oil →
- Fennel seeds or cracked black pepper (optional)
At the stove
Instructions
- 1
Mix the yeast into the water, then combine with the semola, salt and oil. Knead 10 minutes.
- 2
Rise for 1 hour, then divide into 12 pieces.
- 3
Roll each piece into a rope and join the ends into a ring.
- 4
Rest the rings for 20 minutes on floured trays.
- 5
Bake at 390°F for 30–35 minutes until firm and lightly coloured. For a harder ring, leave them in the cooling oven for 20 minutes more.
- 6
Cool completely; they harden as they sit.
Recipe notes
Softer or harder depending on the bake — both versions are made.
Dunk hard ones in soup, wine or coffee, which is how they were usually eaten.
Context
Ring-shaped breads under names like cuddureddi and cuddura are made across Sicily and Calabria, in versions ranging from soft festival breads to hard keeping rings.
Sources: Editorial adaptation of documented southern Italian bread traditions, Ro & Ti Kitchen
The pieces used here
From the Kitchen
Keep cooking
