Dormienti

04/06/2025

In a few weeks, Easter will be here, a special occasion to celebrate with family and friends, centered around delicious food. It’s the perfect time to rediscover the flavors of tradition, the ones that make you feel at home.

After sharing the recipes for delicious Easter Ciambelle and a rustic Ciaccia, today, together with Cesarina Anna from San Quirico d'Orcia, we present to you a perfect recipe to celebrate this holiday. It is a special recipe from the Puglian tradition: the Dormienti. This is an ancient sweet that has been made for centuries exclusively in Ginosa, in the province of Taranto. It seems there are no official documents that attest to its origin, nor written recipes describing its preparation, as it has been passed down orally from generation to generation.

Cesarina Anna explains, "Everything is passed down verbally, from mother to daughter. In my family, for example, it was my grandmother who left me this precious oral legacy, which I have kept secret for many years and now I want to continue and share".

Originally, this sweet treat was prepared for the Easter holidays (perhaps because, being a dessert made with little sugar, it was in keeping with the Catholic abstinence of Holy Week), but over time, the tradition has almost been lost, possibly due to the lack of written recipes.

The name "Dormienti" comes from the long rising times, during which the dough is left to rest, as if it were sleeping. In fact, in the Italian language, the name "Dormenti" comes from the verb "dormire," which means "to sleep”.

Dormienti

An ancient Easter dessert from Ginosa, with long rising times

DifficultyMedium

Preparation time16h 30m

Cooking time30m

Servings8

€

CostLow

Ingredients

1 kg of all-purpose flour (1/2 regular 00 flour and 1/2 Maiorca flour)
1 packet of dry yeast or 1 fresh yeast cube
150g of olive oil
200g of sugar
4 eggs
25g of milk
Zest of 1 lemon
Ground cinnamon to taste
40g of anise seeds
A pinch of salt

Method

Beat the eggs with sugar and oil, then set the mixture aside.
Pour the flour onto a flat surface and make a well in the center.
Add the grated lemon zest, cinnamon, anise, a pinch of salt, and knead everything together.
Add the egg mixture to the flour, then dissolve the yeast in 25g of warm milk and incorporate it into the dough.
Form a dough ball, adding a little more milk if necessary, until you have a soft and slightly sticky dough.
Place the dough in a large container with a lid, cover with a blanket (as grandmothers used to do), and let it rise in a warm place for 15 hours.
After the rising time, knead the dough again and form 50g balls.
Place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving space between them, cover and let them rise for 1 hour.
Bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes until they are golden brown.