Though Italian food is wildly popular, it should come as no surprise that dozens of unsung dishes remain nestled into their regional nooks across the peninsula, such as Sfogliata di Mele Teramana. This apple pie hails from the Teramo area of Abruzzo, the region of Central Italy that lies west of Rome.
If you'd like to give it a try, the recipe follows. But be warned: it's elaborate and complex, yes, but the end result is worth it.
The origins of the Sfogliata di Mele Teramana apple pie
Though Sfogliata di Mele Teramana is associated with the town of Teramo, several towns nearby also claim to be its birthplace. Each family has its own recipe that runs generations deep. Some add more cinnamon while others add more cocoa. Some might pour in some rum those while others break out the alchermes, a spiced Italian liqueur. Variations may also call for apple jam.
The recipe results in around 8 sheets, 10" in diameter. We suggest you make several at once. The process is long so you can freeze the dough and bake it in the future.
Pastry sheet
The Italian term for the pastry is sfogliata.
The base of the apple pie contains four sheets of pastry. The top one is flavored with oil, cinnamon, and sugar, then three more are placed on top.
To prepare the dough for the puff pastry, work 9 lb. flour with 12 glasses of white wine and 6 of peanut oil.
Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.
The filling
This also needs to be prepared a little bit in advance because the flavors need to fuse together.
First, peel 22 lbs. golden apples or small field apples and cut them into pieces, not too small.
Cook them with the juice of two lemons and sugar (about 6-8 Tbsp). The filling, as we said, is made based on intuition and according to taste. The result shouldn't be a jam – the fruit pieces should not have dissolved. Once cooked, let the apples cool.
Add plenty of cinnamon powder, a few Tbsp. bitter cocoa, dark chocolate chopped with a knife (about 14 oz.), rum, toasted and coarsely chopped almonds, about 6 Tbsp. sugar, and lemon peel.
Keep tasting along the way and adjust as necessary. We suggest not being too heavy-handed with the cocoa and chocolate and adding the sugar a little bit at a time.
How to assemble the pie
Begin by stretching out the pastry sheets. Each apple pie should have 7 sheets in total.
The first four layers, then the filling, and then three more layers.
We suggest using a mixer to make the dough as preparing it manually with a rolling pin will take too long.
The dough must be properly stretched so that it becomes elastic, so pass it through a pasta machine continuously.
Stretch the doughs one at a time, layer after layer. It takes four hands to do it properly. Alternatively, you can ake make smaller sheets for small pans.
Place the first sheet on a round, oiled baking sheet and dampen it with a few drops of oil. The first sheet only needs oil. The ends should spill over the edges of the pan and stay as such until the end of preparation.
Continue with the second sheet, lay it on the first, and cover with more oil and a mix of sugar and cinnamon. Not too much – just a dusting.
Continue like this for the third layer and on the fourth one, add a few spoonfuls of filling. Spread it nicely around the pan, and sprinkle it with sugar and cinnamon.
Continue with two more layers of pastry sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon and then complete with the third and last layer.
Trim the edges and close them properly to create a crust so that the filling doesn’t leak out during cooking.
Basically, pinch the outer rim by pushing it towards the bottom of the pan.
Make holes in the surface and oil it abundantly with a brush, including the edges. A very important step before cooking is that the oil must cover the entire pastry.
Bake in a very hot static oven at 475°F degrees for about 20 minutes.
If you have s wood-burning oven to use, then 650°F would be the ideal temperature to bake it.
If the surface should darken, cover it with tinfoil, and continue cooking.
Once ready, the apple pies are stacked on top of each other to cool so that they flatten nicely. They won’t break, so don't worry.
If you are intrigued and want to try this apple pie from Teramo recipe, follow our advice in the photo gallery.