Sfogliatella


A sfogliatella, sometimes called a lobster tail in English, is a shell-shaped filled Italian pastry native to Campania. Sfogliatella means "small, thin leaf/layer", as the pastry's texture resembles stacked leaves.

Origin

The sfogliatella Santa Rosa was created in the monastery of Santa Rosa in Conca dei Marini in the province of Salerno, Italy, in the 17th century. Pasquale Pintauro, a pastry chef from Naples, acquired the original recipe and began selling the pastries in his shop in 1818.

Production

The dough is stretched out on a large table, or flattened with a pasta maker, then brushed with a fat, then rolled into a log. Disks are cut from the end, shaped to form pockets, and filled. The pastry is baked until the layers separate, forming the sfogliatella's characteristic ridges.
Recipes for the dough and filling vary. Fillings include orange-flavored ricotta, almond paste, and candied peel of citron.

Regional variations

In Neapolitan cuisine, there are two kinds of the pastry: "sfogliatella riccia", the "normal" version, and "sfogliatella frolla," a less labor-intensive pastry that uses a shortcrust dough and does not form the sfogliatella's characteristic layers.
A variation named aragosta also exists, with the same crust but a sweeter filling: French cream, similar to whipped cream.