Provençal "Oreillettes"
Oreillettes are thin, crispy fritters, lightly dusted with sugar. Originally from the Languedoc region, they were once made as a ‘pain gras’ to mark the last day before the start of Lent, known as ‘Mardi Gras’.
An essential speciality of Provençal history and culinary traditions, they are traditionally flavoured with lemon or orange blossom.
Here is my family recipe with lemon zest.
Ingredients :
- 500g of flour
- 1 bag of baking powder
- 80 g melted butter
- optionnal : 50 g of sugar (I don't use any)
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons of orange blossom water
- 3 lemons
- 2 pinches of salt
- 1L of oil for frying
- Icing sugar
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, yeast, salt and the zest of three lemons. Add the eggs.
- Make a well in the centre, then add the melted butter and orange blossom water.
- Now it’s time to knead. Knead the dough for about five minutes until you have a smooth, elastic ball.
- Shape into a ball, cover it and leave to rest for two hours in a mixing bowl.
- Roll out the dough as thinly as possible on a lightly floured work surface. The thinner the dough, the more delicate and crisp the oreillettes will be.
- Cut out rectangles of roughly the same size (approx. 5 x 10 cm).
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan.
- Add the pieces of dough and turn them gently until they turn a lovely golden colour.
- Once cooked, place them in a bowl and dust with icing sugar.
