Scappi Royal Dough

Translation:

Make a dough of two pounds of fine flour with six fresh egg yolks, two ounces of rose water, an ounce of leaven moistened with warm water, four ounces of fresh butter or rendered fat that does not smell bad, and enough salt. That dough should be kneaded well for half an hour. Make a thin sheet of it, greasing it with either melted butter that is not too hot or with rendered fat. With the pastry wheel cut the edges one after the other, which are always quite a bit thicker than the rest. Sprinkle the dough with four ounces of sugar and an ounce of cinnamon.  (Scappi, pp. 488-489)

Dough Ingredients:

7 cups pastry flour

1 stick of butter

6 egg yolks

1 oz. of sour dough yeast (use sourdough starter or 2 package of regular yeast if sourdough is unavailable)

Melted butter to brush over pastry and pastry sheet

1 tsp salt

4 Tbsp. rose water

Dough Dusting:

4 Tbsp. of sugar

2 Tbsp. cinnamon

Redaction:

Start with making the dough. Even though the rose water sounds excessive it isn’t. If anything,

I’d add another Tbs. and another stick of butter.

I put the flour into the bowl first, with a bit of salt, and then add the butter mixing by hand. Once the butter was mostly incorporated, I slowly added the egg yolks, rose water and yeast.

I had to add about a cup of water to help bring everything together.

When Scappi says moisten the yeast, I believe this is where he means add the yeast to a cup of water as this was the only way the dough was going to form. This forms the dough from rough to smooth elastic that is just amazing to work with.   Here the finished dough is shown.  As smooth as a baby’s bottom.