This week we focus on aniseed as a complementary ingredient of this week\u2019s recipe, but has been a protagonist of many historic events that have engraved in the memory of the Mediterranean and its lore. References can be found in various ancient texts and expressions show the centrality of this herbaceous plant among the Egyptians, Greeks and Roman (circumscribed in the Mediterranean and not mentioning it\u2019s relatively recent important role of aniseed drinks in different parts of the world). It is precisely in the eastern Mediterranean where scientists located the origin of this plant which has been widely sought after for its calming properties on bronchitis, asthma, digestion and bad breath among its most important virtues. Because of the long list of properties, Egyptian papyri testify about 4,000 years ago, while the Bible emphasizes the importance of their role as payment in kind. In classical times the prominence that this ingredient is essential being the Greek physician and botanist Dioscorides who notes its use as a miracle cure and its qualities as a diuretic, appetite stimulant and rich aphrodisiac. Quite likely the Roman would begin to use aniseed for culinary purposes and was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by Muslims, Spain is today one of the countries where aniseed is cultivated the most.<\/p>\n
375 g flour
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t225 ml water
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t15 g fresh yeast
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t5 g salt (iodized if possible)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t10 g sugar
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t25 ml olive oil
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t100 g walnuts
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t1 tbsp aniseeds
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t100 ml anise liqueur\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Prepare dough by dissolving 10g of yeast in 50ml of warm water. Add 125g of flour and a pinch of salt, mix and keep it between 10 and 20 hours in a bowl covered with a damp cloth so it can ferment and swell. The exact time depends on the temperature, but the dough should quadruple its volume.
\nPlace 250g of flour in the form of a volcano on a clean and dry surface. In the center place the sugar on one side and put salt in the other side as well as the remaining olive oil and previously dissolved yeast in 175ml of warm water. Mixing everything inside the volcano while incorporating flour into the centre, add the dough and knead until very smooth. Finally, add half the chopped nuts and aniseed.
\nRoll out the dough on a baking tray, covering with a damp cloth and let stand 2 hours to ferment and rise again. Brush with olive oil, spread the remaining nuts over top and sprinkle with sugar. Back 20 minutes at 230\u00baC, with aluminum foil to avoid burning the nuts. To finish, let cool, cut into pieces and sprinkle with anise liqueur to serve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","recipe_category":[],"class_list":["post-1259","cp_recipe","type-cp_recipe","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietamediterranea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cooked_recipe\/1259\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietamediterranea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cooked_recipe\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietamediterranea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cp_recipe\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietamediterranea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietamediterranea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=1259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietamediterranea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1254\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietamediterranea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=1259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cp_recipe_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietamediterranea.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/recipe_category\/?post=1259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}