Salento Pittule

Pittule are a typical dish of Salento gastronomy, handed down by housewives and by our mothers and grandmothers, they are a delicacy that is prepared especially in the autumn and winter period.

Here we present a recipe to better understand the preparation and the ingredients that can be used to best enjoy these typical Salento delicacies.

Pittule or Pettule are traditional Apulian leavened dough fritters and can be prepared in different ways: with lampascioni, turnip greens, mussels, vegetables, with black olives and capers and finally inserted into the dough together with delicious dried tomatoes and then again with shrimp, calamari, cod or cauliflower.

In short, they are a nutritious dish, easy to prepare and suitable for all tastes, even the most particular ones.

The recipe for Salento pittule

Ingredients:

• 1 kg of flour
• a cube of brewer’s yeast
• warm water
• Salt to taste
• olive oil for frying

Preparation:

1. Pour the flour into a large enough container, add the yeast dissolved in the warm water and the salt, work the dough for a long time until it is quite elastic and homogeneous.
2. Leave it to rest under a wool blanket for about three hours.
3. After this time, put the olive oil on the heat, take the dough and knead it again.
4. The frying procedure is as follows: take a little dough and close it in the fist of your hand, with the other hand (always wet) collect the ball that comes out and throw it into the boiling oil.
5. Take them out with the slotted spoon when they are golden brown and place them on absorbent paper.
6. You can use the same dough to make “mixed” pittule. Take a little dough in your hands, wrap it in the pepper (or previously boiled pieces of cauliflower) and dip it in oil. Or you can prepare a mixture of finely chopped onion, cherry tomatoes, chilli pepper, capers, anchovies, salt, add everything to the mixture and fry balls a little larger than those obtained by clenching your fists.