We had zeppoli at Olive Garden a few weeks ago. I told the kids we can replicate it at home. They said, “Probably not, but we can try it.” Thanks for your confidence, kids! I looked for a recipe online.
Zeppole – Italian doughnuts
It turns out, the real name is “zeppole,” not “zeppoli.” Now I realize that Italian doughnuts do not exactly a loaf of bread represent. Hey, it’s dough raised with yeast. That counts for something.
Lately, thanks to my food allergy treatment, I could indulge in a little gluten. Not a lot, and not every day. Zeppole constitute such an occasion.
Unfortunately, one must deep fry these marvels. But you can drain them.
The zeppole recipe I chose to make came out very well. The only modification was that I let it raise for three hours, double the time. For one, it just so happened with my schedule that day that we could not start frying them after 90 minutes. The other reason was that I have read our tummies digest yeast-raised dough more easily when if it sits on the counter as long as possible. The longer, the better.
Our lesson? The zeppole must be smaller than a peach. They swell so much during the deep frying process, that you should probably start with a ball closer to an apricot, or maybe a small nectarine.
The good news is, they were delicious AND I had no gluten attack after consuming one. The bad news is, they were delicious AND I had no gluten attack after consuming one. This simply means that I might make zeppole on a weekly basis from now on. The rest of the family devoured them down to the last one.
