giovedì 13 ottobre 2016

Les Navettes de Marseille

Few months ago I was in Marseille for a workshop and during the break my attention was caught by some biscuits that looked like mini baguettes. Their fragrance was something very familiar, reminding the long days spent with my grandma when I was a child, because these navettes marseillaises are made with orange blossom water, the same essence used for a typical Neapolitan dessert, called pastiera.
 
They are very crunchy, fragrant and light. I found a recipe on the web and modified a bit.
500 gr flour “0”
80 gr brown sugar
50 gr sugar
4 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp orange blossom water
2 eggs
A pinch of salt and ginger
 
Mix the egg with sugar till you get a creamy texture very airy, add salt, orange blossom water, ginger and olive oil. Fold in the flour little by little. Hand kneading the dough till you get an homogenous ball. Set aside covered for 1 hour.
 
Cut the ball dough into slice and roll each slice for a length of 10 cm. Pinch the extremities and with a knife make a cut lengthwise. Brush with some water and put into a pre heated oven (180°C) for 15/20 min. 
 
Let them cool and keep into a nice box for maximum a month (the pictures are not so nice as the taste of these navettes).