Often served with (and dipped in!) white wine, taralli are a fun and versatile Italian snack you can flavor all sorts of ways. This pepper and cheese variety starts with a simple unleavened dough starring white wine and olive oil. Rolled into ropes, then into rings, they're boiled and sprinkled with cheese before baking. Once baked, the cheese forms a crispy wafer in the middle of the ring!
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour: 1 cup
- black pepper: 2 tsp (freshly ground)
- kosher salt: 1 tsp
- white wine: 0.25 cup
- olive oil: 2 Tbsp
- finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese: 0.5 cup
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Combine flour, pepper, and salt in a mixing bowl, and stir with a spoon to combine. Pour in wine and olive oil. Mix until dough starts to come together. Knead by hand until dough is smooth and slightly elastic, about 3 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
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Unwrap dough and cut into 4 pieces. Roll each piece out with your palms into ropes about 10 to 12 inches long. Cut each rope into 3 pieces; roll each piece to a length of 5 or 6 inches. Twist the ends a few times and press them together to form a ring, twisting as needed to fully seal the ends.
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat (such as SILPAT®).
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Bring a pan of water (at least 3 inches) to a boil. Drop in 4 rings of dough at a time. Boil until rings float to the top, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a towel-lined plate. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet.
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Sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese over each ring; flip and grate more cheese on the other side. Flip back to the first side and apply one last grating of cheese, or until rings are thoroughly coated.
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Bake in the preheated oven until lightly golden and crunchy, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet onto a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.
