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Italian Herbs: You Should Know These

Italian herbs should not be missing in any kitchen: Whether fresh or dried, they give Mediterranean dishes the finishing touch. We’ll show you five strains you should know about.

Herbs and spices should be readily available in every pantry. They give your food that certain something and allow you to experiment with flavors. Italian herbs are also particularly popular in this country. We show you the five most important things you should always have at home.

Basil: The royal herb among the Italian herbs

Basil is probably the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to Italian herbs. And rightly so: the strong, aromatic taste is immediately reminiscent of Italy. There, the green herb refines a variety of traditional dishes, for example classic caprese, fresh basil pesto or pizza margherita. You can use basil for salads and dips or season fish and meat dishes with it. And if you want to try something new: even in lemonades and cocktails, the most well-known of the Italian herbs cuts a fine figure.
By the way: Basil is very healthy because it contains essential oils and vitamins A and C.

Rosemary: For fish, meat and potatoes

Rosemary is one of the most popular Italian herbs. The term originally comes from Latin and means something like “dew of the sea”. The herb owes its name to the place where it thrives – the coasts of the Mediterranean. You can use rosemary both fresh and dried in the kitchen. In Italy, the herb is mainly combined with meat and fish, but vegetarians and vegans can also take advantage of rosemary. For example, try rosemary potatoes or season vegetable dishes with them.

Already knew? Rosemary is said to stimulate circulation and help with flatulence and indigestion.

Oregano: Southern Italy’s favorite

Let’s continue with oregano! The spice is particularly popular in southern Italy and a real all-rounder among Italian herbs. What would a pizza sauce be without oregano? But the Mediterranean plant is also often used in meat, fish and vegetable dishes.

Incidentally, a close relative of oregano in German cuisine is marjoram – which is why it is also known as “wild marjoram”.

Tip: By the way, dried oregano is much spicier than fresh. Therefore, you should always be careful with the dosage.

Thyme: Versatile medicinal and aromatic herb

With its spicy-sweet note, thyme refines soups, sauces, stews and meat dishes. The taste of this herb also goes well with a vegetable pan, for example with aubergine and potatoes. Fish dishes go particularly well with lemon thyme.

Important: For the sake of the animals and the environment, you should largely avoid fish and meat. If it does end up on the plate, make sure it is organic.

Sage: Versatile

Everyone knows the characteristic scent of sage. Like most Italian herbs, it can be used in many ways, for example with grilled food or in soups. You can serve delicious sage butter with homemade gnocchi. The common sage you will find in this country is the real sage.

By the way: sage is said to make high-fat foods more digestible.
Sage is not only popular in the kitchen, but also in the fight against colds and gastrointestinal problems – for example in the form of sage tea.

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Cooking Tips

Make Cappuccino Yourself: This is How the Italian Specialty Succeeds

Creamy coffee just like in Bella Italia: With the right recipe and professional know-how, you can make your own cappuccino at home, the taste of which will immediately take you back to your last holiday in Italy.

Warming rays of sunshine, the hustle and bustle on the piazza and a cappuccino with perfect milk foam topping – the ingredients for a relaxing holiday! At least the luxurious drink can easily be taken home. Because the recipe for classic Italian cappuccino is very simple: it consists of equal parts espresso, milk and milk froth.

Already knew?

Italians only drink cappuccino in the morning. Due to its high milk content, it is considered to be stomach-filling. In Germany, on the other hand, we enjoy it all day long: with a long breakfast or in the afternoon with pastries.

It all comes down to the beans

First things first: The espresso beans should be of the best quality so that the cappuccino really tastes as good as it does on holiday. You are guaranteed to be on the right track with the high-quality coffees from Mamis Caffè. Which variety you choose is up to your personal preferences.

Gran Crema impresses with the fine crema of the Arabica beans from Brazil, which settles perfectly on the milk.
The full-bodied espresso crema has a soft, intense crema, which unfolds its aroma in the interplay of Arabica beans with a strong Robusta note.
The sweet Amabile with its generous, soft body brings together seductive Dolce Vita with aromatic notes from India and South America.
Dolce Vita already carries the pleasure in the name. Sweet and with a certain spice, Arabica and Robusta beans bring the Italian attitude to life into your cup.
The smooth Deca Coffee is suitable for a delicious decaffeinated cappuccino variant.

What else makes a good cappuccino? That’s right: a creamy, dense foam. For this to succeed, you need milk with a high fat content. Whole milk with a fat content of 3.5 percent is ideal. Without fat, the foam will be watery and won’t stay solid.

All good things come in threes: the cappuccino recipe

Everything together? Now it depends on the mixing ratio. A cup of cappuccino consists of:

⅓ espresso
⅓ warm milk
⅓ milk froth.
For this you need:

Espresso (approx. 25 – 30 milliliters)
milk (approx. 100 – 150 milliliters)

Cappuccino preparation: start with the espresso

Professionals brew their espresso in a portafilter machine. Such a high-end coffee machine has its price and requires a relatively large amount of effort to prepare. However, if you regularly enjoy cappuccino at barista level, the investment can be worth it. You like it less complicated? A small espresso pot for the stove, a so-called Bialetti, also does a good job. The espresso is quick and easy with a fully automatic coffee machine, a pad or capsule machine.

Of course, you know best which method best suits your everyday life. At Mamis Caffè you will find your favorite variety for every type of preparation: as a whole bean, ground coffee, pad or capsule.

It’s all in the milk: this is how the perfect milk froth succeeds

In order to produce a stable milk froth, it is important that the milk is not too hot. As the owner of a portafilter machine with a steam nozzle, you are on the safe side. Here you use hot steam to heat milk in a jug and froth it at the same time. It’s even easier with a fully automatic machine. Most models conjure up a decent amount of milk foam at the touch of a button.

Alternatively, simply heat the milk on the stove. A temperature below 65 degrees is ideal, it should never boil.

You can then either froth the warm milk with a special milk frother or use a hand blender or a whisk. What actually works: a sufficiently large, empty mason jar. Pour in the warm milk and shake vigorously: a fine froth forms.

For your cappuccino you need milk froth, milk and espresso in equal parts. Froth until the volume of the milk has roughly doubled.

Expert tip: Professional baristas briefly knock the pot onto the table after heating the milk. In this way, unwanted bubbles escape from the milk and the froth becomes more even.

The final touch: Serve the cappuccino

Once you have prepared your espresso, first pour it into a preheated cup. Now it’s time for the milk, which you pour into the cup with a flourish. First hold back the foam with a spoon. You use it in the last step to crown your drink with it.

Et voilà: the homemade cappuccino is ready and tastes at least as good as in your favorite café in Milan or Rome.

Art in coffee: create latte art like a barista

Professionals refine the cappuccino with artistic motifs in the milk froth, the so-called latte art. The patterns in the crema are created when you pour the milk onto the espresso with a lot of energy and small, targeted movements. This requires finesse and practice. Would you like to surprise your guests with artistic masterpieces on milk froth? Most major cities have barista classes that will teach you the basics in just a few hours.

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Moka or Machine? The Subtle Difference in Italian Coffee

Well, do you hear it hiss? Ever since it was invented by Bialetti, the Moka Express has been the ultimate symbol of Italian coffee. Almost every household in Bella Italia has such a device. How does it work? And what distinguishes coffee from the Moka from espresso from other machines? Mamis Caffè will give you the answers.

La Moka: How Bialetti created the Italian classic

Anyone who speaks of caffè in Italy means either espresso – or coffee from the so-called moka. The octagonal device for preparing coffee is even more widespread there than the filter coffee machine in Germany.

It was invented by Alfonso Bialetti, who patented his “Moka Express” in 1933. Until now, Italians could only drink their beloved espresso outside, in bars with the appropriate machines. Bialetti then had the idea of ​​not producing espresso under high steam pressure, but of forcing the water through the coffee using little pressure in the pot. That’s why the Italians sometimes simply name their favorite kitchen utensil after its inventor: Bialetti.

Incidentally, according to stories, he was inspired by a method of washing clothes that was common at the time. Because in Italy in the 1920s, dirty clothes were washed in buckets with a pipe in the middle. This tube pumped the soapy water up and distributed it over the laundry.

How does an espresso maker work?

Each classic Moka consists of three parts:

Can top with pouring spout
Boiler that is filled with water
Funnel insert with coffee powder
As soon as the water in the boiler begins to evaporate, overpressure is created. This pushes the hot water up through the ground coffee in the funnel insert. The top part of the jug has a fine sieve on the underside that filters the coffee from the coffee grounds. The filtered coffee rises in the riser pipe and flows into the espresso maker’s pot.

The important role that the Moka plays in Italian households is also shown by the many colors and designs in which the kitchen classic is available. Because the device is also an eye-catcher. The Moka is often in sight on the stove or on the shelf. Hardly anything has changed in the basic form. However, designers keep adapting the look of the Moka to harmonize it with different kitchen styles.

Already knew?

The father invented it, the son spread it: the Moka only became widely known after the Second World War, when Alfonso Bialetti’s son Renato marketed his invention professionally. The entrepreneur built the world’s largest factory for coffee machines – and as a “man with the mustache” himself became an advertising star for “La Moka”. He was associated with the octagonal coffee pot even after his death: his ashes were buried in an oversized mocha in the family grave.

This is what distinguishes coffee from the moka from espresso

Unlike the Moka, which has evolved primarily around aesthetics, home espresso machines have changed a lot over time. Depending on your budget, you can now choose between fully automatic coffee machines, portafilter, pad and capsule machines. All of the good quality machines deliver great-tasting espresso.

But what exactly is the difference between “caffè dalla moka” and espresso? Even if “la moka” is often referred to in German as an espresso maker or espresso pot, this does not quite describe your method of preparation. Strictly speaking, the Moka is not an espresso pot, but a coffee pot. Incidentally, this is also the name of the Italian synonym Caffettiera. The reason: The Moka works with a maximum pressure of 2.5 bar. However, real espresso requires a brewing pressure of between 8 and 10 bar, which can only be achieved by machines.

Caffé from moka and espresso also differ in terms of:

Caffeine content: With the same amount of coffee, a cup of moka contains around 50 mg caffeine and an espresso around 68 mg.
Crema: The classic moka brews intense coffee with little to no crema. However, there are now versions with a special crema valve that produce a nice crema. All espresso machines usually produce espresso with crema.
Price: The Moka is already available for little money. The original from Bialetti costs between 15 and 30 euros, no-name cookers around half that. Good espresso machines, on the other hand, quickly cost a few hundred euros or more.
Size: The Moka takes up little space. It is easy to transport and can also be made to run on the go, for example with a camping stove.
Incidentally, various studies on the coffee consumption habits of Italians show that moka is still the most common way of preparing coffee in Italian households – a preference that is probably passed on from generation to generation. Most Italians even have two pots of different sizes in order to be able to brew the right amount of coffee for different occasions. And even if a modern espresso machine is available, the majority also have a moka at home.

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Why is Italian Coffee so Famous Around The World?

Anyone who chooses Italian coffee also always chooses a piece of the Italian way of life. But is it just the portion of Dolce Vita to take at home that is so appealing, or why are the beans so popular? The secret lies not least in the special roasting.

La Dolce Vita at home

Nobody who has ever traveled to Italy and experienced the way of life live can get away from it so quickly: the stylish boutiques in Milan, radiant white sandy beaches on Sardinia, lively history in Rome or the incomparable charm of Tuscany hardly leave anyone cold. There are also warm-hearted people who enjoy good food and, of course, great coffee, which is simply part of the lifestyle.

You can only take the flair in the small café on the Piazza Navona home with you to a limited extent, but the coffee made in Italy can. And it also tastes fantastic in your own four walls. We explain what makes it so good.

It all depends on the bean

Taste starts with the coffee bean. No coffee is grown in Italy, the Italians also use the world’s most popular varieties Arabica and Robusta. In Germany, a coffee that consists of 100 percent Arabica beans is considered to be of particularly high quality. In Italy things are different. Coffee made from Robusta beans is also appreciated here. Because this is by no means of poorer quality, quite the opposite: the growing area and the further processing of the beans are decisive. Mixtures with Robusta are very popular in Italy. The espresso owes its strong, earthy taste and the fine crema to them. But even pure Arabica simply tastes different in Italy. The peculiarity lies in the special roasting.

The fine art of Italian roasting

Before the beans end up in our coffee machines, they go through a long process. After harvesting, they are first cleaned and dried. They then unfold their full aroma during the subsequent roasting. Depending on how the coffee should taste in the end, different processes are used. There are numerous roasting processes and roasting recipes around the world that must be strictly adhered to. Coffee roasting is almost a craft. An unbalanced process will result in a sour drink with an unpleasant aftertaste.

The knowledge of the perfect roast is often passed on from generation to generation in Italy. Over the years, the strong “Italian roast” has developed, which is appreciated by coffee lovers all over the world. It is the darkest of the five classic degrees of roasting and gives the caffè its unique properties.

Coffee made in Italy: strong and wholesome

The exact degree to which the beans are roasted and how the Italian coffee tastes in the end also differs from region to region. As a rule of thumb, the further south of the boot you are, the stronger the coffee. The aromas vary from chocolaty-sweet to fruity to strongly tart.

Almost all varieties have in common the fact that the strong roasting results in a coffee with a higher bitterness. At the same time, the acidity is particularly low. Compared to German filter coffee, it also contains less caffeine. These properties make Italian coffee delicious and extremely digestible. To really understand the special features, there is only one thing that helps: try it yourself.

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Coffee in Europe: History of Italian Coffee

In Europe, Italy is considered the motherland of coffee – or “caffè”, as the Italians call it. But why actually? Mamis Caffè dives into the history of coffee in Italy with you.

The discovery of coffee: thanks to the goats

All sorts of legends surround the origin of coffee. The most well-known is about an Ethiopian herdsman named Kaldi, who grazed his goats in the Kaffa region. Accordingly, he observed that the animals always jumped around particularly cheerfully when they had eaten from the fruits of a certain bush. That’s why Kaldi tasted the coffee cherries and discovered their stimulating effect.

Whether the goatherd was really the first person to ever taste coffee is uncertain. However, many sources show that coffee actually spread from Ethiopia, first to North Africa and then to the entire Arab world. There, people drank it with pleasure for many centuries before coffee finally came to Europe.

The coffee goes to Italy

The origins of coffee in Europe are clearly Italian. The Venetian physician Prospero Alpini, for example, got to know the coffee plant on a trip to Egypt in the 16th century and learned from the local people how to roast the beans and use them to prepare the aromatic drink.

In 1570, thanks to Alpini, the first beans reached European soil in Venice. Initially, coffee was sold in pharmacies as medicine due to its beneficial and stimulating properties. In addition, the black gold was so expensive that only rich people could afford the luxury. Coffee quickly became a popular and valuable gift among aristocrats, a symbol of love and friendship.

Church and coffee: love at second sight

Not everyone made friends with the brown pick-me-up straight away. The stimulating drink from the Arab world was considered by many to be a stimulant for unbelievers, and Catholic clergy initially condemned it as “the devil’s stuff”. Some even called for coffee drinkers to be excommunicated and called on Pope Clement VIII to officially ban coffee consumption.

Clemens VIII, however, decided to try the controversial drink himself first – and was enthusiastic about the taste of the frowned upon luxury food. “This drink of Satan is delicious,” he is said to have exclaimed. The Pope then decided not only not to ban coffee, but even to define it as a “Christian drink”. Since then, no coffee drinker in Catholic Italy has had to have a guilty conscience – and coffee has been able to begin its triumphal march unmolested.

Caffè Florian in Venice: The first coffee house in Europe

In the heart of Venice, under the arcades of the spectacular Piazza San Marco, Europe’s first coffee house opened in 1647, a forerunner of today’s famous Caffè Florian. The café, based on models in Alexandria and Constantinople, was very well received and quickly found imitators: just a few decades later there were already more than 200 cafés in Venice alone. The new fashion quickly spread to other Italian cities, including Padua, Turin, Rome and Naples. Coffee also became popular in many other European cities at this time.

The stylish coffee houses gained increasing prestige. They became the meeting place for well-known writers, philosophers and statesmen, who engaged in stimulating discussions over an invigorating cup of coffee. And to this day, the cafés are the favorite meeting place for Italians.

Milestone: The invention of the espresso

A milestone in Italian coffee history is the invention of the espresso. In 1901, Milanese Luigi Bezzera patented the first machine that used steam to prepare the little black one.

Contrary to what is often assumed, the Italian term “espresso” does not mean “fast”. There are two explanations for the name. On the one hand, the meaning “explicitly” or “specifically”. Because in the early years, the “caffè espresso” was only brewed on express request. So the little black one was a coffee “expressly or specially prepared” for the guest.

Another explanation relates to the then new method of preparation with steam and brings espresso in connection with steam locomotives – also known as express trains at the time. Incidentally, the Italians themselves usually refer to the pick-me-up simply as “caffè”. They still prefer to drink it neat, with a fine crema or as a cappuccino for breakfast.

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Italian Coffee – Coffee Culture in Italy

Italian coffee – coffee in perfection

When you think of Italian coffee, the first thing that comes to mind is of course the delicious espresso. Espresso is the basis of Italian coffee culture, which is refined with milk and milk foam depending on personal taste. Here in Germany, too, espresso, cappuccino and latte macchiato have long been among our favorite coffee varieties.

Mainly thanks to professional fully automatic coffee machines and capsule machines, which are becoming more and more popular. But what is the Italians’ secret for aromatic espresso? And what characterizes the coffee culture in Italy? There are answers now:

Coffee culture in Italy – caffè for everyone!

For a long time, the Arab world had a monopoly over the coffee trade, until pilgrims were able to smuggle germinable coffee beans to Europe. More precisely, to Venice in Italy. Here, the delicious hot drink was first widespread in the circles of the nobility and aristocrats. Gradually, coffee found its way into all social classes and soon became an integral part of everyday life.

Although the first Italian coffee was consumed on Venetian soil, today Naples is considered to be the city in Italy that identifies most closely with coffee. Not only do numerous songs in honor of the popular hot drink come from Naples, but also a special and heartfelt tradition. Here, in addition to their own espresso, citizens can also pay for a “caffè sospeso” in the café. Translated, this means something like a “saved” coffee. This coffee is waiting, so to speak, for someone who cannot afford anything else. After all, enjoying coffee should be open to every citizen in Naples.

Espresso or espressi – which is correct?

There is a lot of confusion about the correct plural, especially among tourists in the popular holiday destination. One thing in advance: the native Italian does not order an espresso at all. If you really want to adapt to the coffee culture of Italy, order a “Caffé”. Sounds like a normal filter coffee, but what is meant is a small espresso.

This is exactly what leads to confusion among tourists in Italy. If you want to be on the safe side, simply order a caffé espresso, or for two “due caffè espresso”.

The secret of Italian coffee

Italian coffee is roasted from very dark beans. This requires a special art of the roasting master. It is not for nothing that there are still many small roasting plants in Italy, the so-called “torrefazione artigianale”. The roasting masters have many years of experience and manage to slowly roast the coffee beans to the desired result.

They press hot water at high pressure through the finely ground coffee powder from the dark roasted beans. This creates a foam from the coffee bean oils – the Italians call it crema. The slow but stronger roasting also gives Italian coffee its characteristic aroma. The bitter substances reduce the caffeine and acid content of the espresso and make it easier to digest. The bitterness is traditionally balanced with lots of sugar.

Part of the dolce vita and coffee culture in Italy is to take a sip of still water with your coffee or cappuccino. Therefore, a small glass of water is traditionally served directly with the cup of coffee.

Whether at home on the couch or in one of the Italian cafés in a sunny spot – enjoy your aromatic coffee espresso to perfection.

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Tramezzini: This is How You Cook the Italian Sandwiches

Tramezzini consist of slices of white bread topped with various ingredients. We’ll show you how to make Italian sandwiches at home.

The term “Tramezzini” comes from tramezzo, which means something like “in between” in Italian. The special thing about the Italian sandwiches is the tremezzini bread. It is very similar to toast bread, but with a softer texture and no crust. In addition, it is more fine-pored. If you don’t have tramezzini bread, you can also simply use normal slices of toast for the preparation.

It is best to buy the covering for your tramezzini at the weekly market. There you can usually get regional and seasonal groceries and thus save unnecessarily long transport routes. Also use organic products to support organic farming. She refrains from using synthetic chemical pesticides that are bad for the soil quality. If you eat eggs, take extra care to buy eggs without chick shredding; This means that the male chicks are also raised. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case with organic quality either.

Tramezzini: The recipe

Ingredients:

3 pieces of red peppers
3 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch of parsley
400 gmushrooms
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 pieces eggs (optional)
4 slices of tramezzini bread or 8 large slices of toast
40g hummus

Directions:

Halve, deseed and wash the peppers. Rub them with a tablespoon of oil.
Place the peppers, skin side up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and roast them under the grill for about ten minutes until the skin of the peppers is dark brown.
Cover the peppers with a damp cloth, let them cool slightly, and then peel off the skin.
Remove the parsley stems and finely chop the leaves. Clean the mushrooms and chop them as well.
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Add the chopped mushrooms and fry until golden brown.
Add the parsley to the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper.
Fry the eggs one at a time in the remaining oil. (Skip this step for the vegan version.)
Spread the tramezzini or toast with hummus. Top one half of the bread with mushrooms and fried eggs, the other half with peppers. Fold the halves together.

Topping ideas for tramezzini

In addition to hummus, you can also combine your tramezzini with various spreads. You can find various spread ideas here, for example: Seasonal spreads: 3 recipes with regional winter vegetables.

The topping of the tramezzini can also be varied in many ways. Well suited are:

Various vegetables, for example cucumbers, radishes, radishes or Chinese cabbage
fried vegetables, for example eggplant, zucchini or peppers
various (vegan) cheeses

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Lievito Madre: This is How You Make the Italian Mother Yeast Yourself

Have you ever heard of Lievito Madre? Here you can find out what makes this sourdough variant special, how you can make it yourself and what delicious things you can bake with it.

Lievito Madre means mother yeast in German. It is the Italian variant of the sourdough known in Germany. You can make it yourself relatively easily and use it to bake various foods such as bread, rolls or pizza. Similar to yeast or baking powder, Lievito Madre ensures that the pastries are nice and fluffy. It has a much milder taste than German sourdough, so you can even use Lievito Madre for sweet pastries.

The next section shows you an example recipe to grow your own Lievito Madre. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it right on the first try. It takes time and experience to learn how the dough reacts and how best to handle it.

The sample recipe is designed so that you don’t have to throw anything away. Many recipes use relatively large amounts of ingredients and require regular disposal of appropriately sized leftovers, but this is food waste that you can easily avoid. You don’t need 100 grams or more flour for the first batch, you can also do it with less. However, dough residues always occur in the process. It is best to collect these in a separate container in the fridge and use them later when baking.

There are many different ways to schedule a Lievito Madre. Using dried Lievito Madre as a base, you can make a baking batch in just one day. Without it, the whole process takes up to 25 days at room temperature. But you can easily speed this up by placing the dough in a place that is around 28 to 30 degrees Celsius. In winter, for example, this can be with the heating, or you take a cooler and put the dough in it with a bottle of hot water, which you change regularly. In just five days at best, follow the steps below to create your own Lievito Madre.

How to make the Lievito Madre approach

Ingredients:

225 organic wheat flour
115ml water
0.5 tsp organic olive oil
0.5 tsp organic honey

Directions:

Day 1 Of the ingredients you need today: 30 g flour
15 ml lukewarm water
0.5 tsp honey
0.5 tsp olive oil Put the flour in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. First mix the ingredients roughly with a spoon and then knead them thoroughly by hand until a smooth dough is formed. It is really important here that everything is mixed and there are no lumps. Form the dough into a ball and cut a cross in the top with a knife. Then place it in an easy-to-clean jar with a lid. Just put the lid on loosely. Place the dough in a warm place and let it rest for 24 hours.
Day 2Today you need: yesterday’s dough
25 ml lukewarm water
45 g flour Mix your dough with the water until it dissolves. Then add the flour and knead again very carefully. Place the dough in a loosely sealed jar and keep warm until tomorrow. Today, and every day that follows, it’s important to make sure the dough doesn’t spoil. If mold does form, you’ll have to get rid of it entirely and unfortunately start over. Good dough smells pleasantly of flour, yeast and slightly sour. Even a slightly alcoholic smell is not bad.
Day 3 to 5 On each of these days you will need: 50g of dough from the previous day (collect the rest in a separate container in the fridge)
25 ml lukewarm water
50 g flour Mix your dough with the water until it dissolves. Then add the flour and knead again very carefully. Place the dough in a loosely sealed jar and keep it warm on the third and fourth day until the next day. On the fifth day, the batch is placed in the refrigerator with the lid closed for further storage. The Lievito Madre should now, on the fifth day, have doubled in size compared to the previous day and be nicely bubbled. If this is not the case yet, then continue the procedure of the last few days a little longer, sometimes it just takes more time.
You can simply use the dough leftovers from the past few days for a pastry. They are very mild, so they fit in bread or roll dough as well as in sweet yeast dough.

How to properly care for your Lievito Madre

You did it and bred your first own Lievito Madre. So that you can enjoy it for a long time, it is important never to use it up completely when baking and to feed it regularly. The more dough you have, the less often you need to feed him, generally every eight to ten days is recommended. You can also use the intensity of the smell of alcohol as a guide: the more intense it is, the more urgently the dough needs more flour and water.

14 days without feeding are normally not a problem for the Lievito Madre. If you’re going to be away for a longer period of time, you’d better dry it off beforehand. To do this, only add a very small amount of water when refreshing, so that the dough is very tough.

Feeding is very easy. Take the dough out of the fridge well in advance so that it comes to room temperature. Over time, a harder layer has formed on the surface. You can remove these and simply mix them in when baking. Mix the soft part thoroughly with 50 g flour and 25 ml lukewarm water.

If you are already planning to bake a specific recipe, you can adjust the amount of flour and water to get the amount of Lievito Madre you need plus a small reserve for storage. The important thing is that you always use twice as much flour as water.

Then put the batter in a fresh jar. Wait for the dough to double in size, then place it back in the fridge with the lid on.

Lievito Madre and Sourdough – What’s the Difference?

The difference between Lievito Madre and sourdough lies in the ratio of flour to water. With classic sourdough it is 1:1, i.e. just as much flour as water. For Lievito Madre, on the other hand, you use twice as much flour as water, i.e. the ratio is 2:1 flour to water.

Another difference is that you add olive oil and honey to the base for Lievito Madre, sourdough is always just flour and water. The types of flour are also different. Rye flour is usually used for sourdough, while wheat flour is used for Lievito Madre.

As a result, Lievito Madre is less acidic and contains more natural yeasts than a classic sourdough, making it more versatile. If you already have a sourdough starter in the fridge, you can easily make a Lievito Madre out of it. The necessary steps are:

Weigh the sourdough starter and add the same amount of flour and half the amount of lukewarm water. With 20 grams of sourdough, for example, 20 grams of flour and 10 milliliters of water.
Knead everything thoroughly and place the dough in a clean, loosely sealed container.
Place the dough in a warm place for 12 hours.
Repeat steps 1 through 3, adjusting the amount of flour and water, two or three more times. The dough should double in volume within 6 hours.
In the further procedure, i.e. use, storage and feeding, you don’t have to pay attention to anything other than with the directly applied Lievito Madre.

If you’re really in the mood for baking now, you’ll find a recipe to try in the next section.

How to make focaccia with Lievito Madre

Ingredients:

70 gLievito Madre (fed the day before)
350 gorganic wheat flour
280 ml lukewarm water
1 tsp salt
1.5 tbsp organic olive oil
Herbs, olives, tomatoes or other favorite ingredients

Directions:

Knead the flour thoroughly with 230 milliliters of the water to form a dough and leave covered for 30 minutes.
Add the Lievito Madre and the salt and gradually add the remaining water while kneading for at least five minutes. You can do this by hand or with a food processor fitted with a dough hook.
Grease a flat baking pan with some olive oil.
Spread the dough out in the pan and let it rise, covered, in a warm place for at least two hours. If you have more time, you can also put it in the fridge overnight. This way the result gets even better.
Press small indentations into the dough from above with your fingers.
Brush the dough with the olive oil and spread the olives, tomatoes, or whatever you have chosen on the dough.
Bake the focaccia in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 to 30 minutes. It should be lightly browned. Actual baking time will vary by oven.

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Food

Italian Carrot Cake: Recipe for the Succulent Torta Camilla

Torta Camilla is the Italian version of the classic carrot cake. Here you will find a vegan recipe for the fluffy and juicy carrot cake.

Torta Camilla is a moist carrot cake that is very popular in Italy. Ground almonds and the juice and grated zest of an orange give it its special aroma.

When it comes to the ingredients for the Torta Camilla, make sure that they are organic if possible. You are supporting ecologically more sustainable agriculture that uses natural resources sparingly and, for example, does not use chemical-synthetic pesticides. The organic seals from Demeter, Bioland and Naturland are particularly recommended, as they specify stricter criteria than the EU organic seal.

Torta Camilla: A vegan recipe

Ingredients:

200 g carrots
1organic orange
40 mlsunflower oil
20 g ground almonds
80 gsugar
1 packet(s) of vanilla sugar
180 g spelled flour
0.5 pack(s)cream of tartar baking powder
1 tbsp powdered sugar

Directions:

Wash the carrots thoroughly. Then grate them as small as possible with a kitchen grater.
Grate the zest of an organic orange and squeeze out the juice.
In a medium bowl, combine the carrots, orange zest and juice, and sunflower oil.
Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, spelled flour and cream of tartar and mix all ingredients into a smooth batter. Tip: If the dough is too tough, you can simply stir in a sip of water.
Grease a suitable cake tin with some sunflower oil and pour in the batter.
Bake the Torta Camilla at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes. The chopstick test shows you whether the Italian carrot cake is ready.
Dust the Torta Camilla with some powdered sugar before serving.

Torta Camilla: tips and hints

You can also easily make the Torta Camilla gluten-free: replace the spelled flour with the same amount of brown rice flour.

You can also halve the cake horizontally and fill it with jam if you want an even fruitier result – for example with orange marmalade.

The Italian carrot cake will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for about 4 to 5 days.

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Cooking Tips

9 Tips for Cooking Delicious Italian Pizza

Italians, as everyone knows, are considered to be the true connoisseurs of filled round yeast cake. But any gourmet is not averse to treating himself with such a delicacy, no matter how different his food preferences from the standard ones.
Pizza will conquer with its versatility because there are hundreds of thousands of recipes for vegetable, fruit, meat, and cheese open pies.
But becoming a real pizza maker is not so easy, you need to have valuable knowledge about making the perfect dough for your favorite snack – Italian pizza.

  1. The final taste of the dish depends on the dough. Therefore, the base is prepared from several varieties of wheat (ordinary and coarse grinding) and spread on a hot baking sheet.
  2. True pizza makers knead the dough very quickly but leave it to rise for a couple of days. Their movements are smooth but confident, they try to knead every fold, fill the dough with oxygen, make it soft and elastic.
  3. A true master will never use a rolling pin. He works with the dough with his hands, stretches it, throws it into the air, twists it, thinning his “canvas”.
  4. The thickness of a classic Neapolitan pizza is exactly 3 mm in the center and 1-2 cm at the side. This strict rule is followed in all restaurants.
  5. To keep the dough from getting wet, you can brush it with extra virgin olive oil.
  6. You should not stock up on freshly prepared dough for future use; after defrosting, its delicate texture may be disturbed, and you will not be able to achieve an ideal result with maximum effort.
  7. A semi-finished product is baked at high temperatures in stone ovens on hot stones that serve as a baking sheet. For a short time in the oven, the ingredients have time to cook without losing their useful properties, the crust becomes perfectly crispy.
  8. If you want a flat base, then preheat 2 trays in the oven at different levels. You will need them to properly bake the dough. Put the dough on the upper tier, the heat from the lower one will rise upward, evenly heating the 1st baking sheet. This will cook the pizza in half the time.
  9. Kneading. This is the most delicate process. The secret lies in the patience and experience of the master. Do not use rolling pins, knead the dough with your hands, feel how it becomes pliable, do not tear when stretched. Do this lovingly, without too much fuss, preferably in a warm room.
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