andrejthechef
ItalyBreadBreakfastVegetarian

Cornetto e Cappuccino

Soft, lightly sweet Italian cornetti made from laminated yeast dough with eggs and lemon zest, served the way an Italian bar does, with a hot cappuccino.

prep
13 h 20 min
cook
20 min
total
13 h 40 min
serves
12
level
hard
A glossy golden cornetto on a small white plate beside a cup of cappuccino with a swirl of milk foam, on a dark wooden table.

At an Italian bar, breakfast means a cornetto and a cappuccino, usually finished in a few minutes at the counter. The cornetto looks like a croissant but eats differently: the dough is enriched with egg, sugar and often lemon zest or vanilla, so the crumb is plusher and more bread-like, and the flavor sweeter. In Milan and parts of the north the same pastry is called a brioche.

The technique is lamination, as for a croissant: a block of cold butter folded into the dough three times. Keep the dough cold while you work, proof the shaped cornetti warm but below the butter melting point, and brush with a yolk wash for the glossy finish. The cappuccino is mostly a morning drink in Italy, so make it fresh right as the cornetti come out of the oven.

Cornetto e Cappuccino is one of the best breakfasts from around the world.

method

  1. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Add the eggs, milk, water, honey, lemon zest and vanilla and mix until shaggy, then add the 50 g softened butter and knead 8 to 10 minutes until smooth, elastic and slightly tacky.

  2. Shape the dough into a rectangle, wrap it and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight. It will rise slowly in the cold, which builds flavor.

  3. Beat the 200 g cold butter between parchment into a 16 cm (6 in) square and chill 30 minutes until pliable. Roll the dough into an 18 x 36 cm (7 x 14 in) rectangle, set the butter on one half, fold the other half over and pinch the edges sealed.

  4. Roll the dough into a strip about 50 cm (20 in) long and fold it in thirds like a letter. Wrap and chill 30 minutes. Repeat the roll, fold and chill two more times, three folds in all, with the seam on your left each time.

  5. Roll the dough about 5 mm (1/4 in) thick, 24 cm (9.5 in) wide and 80 cm (32 in) long, in two pieces if your counter is small. Trim the edges and cut 12 triangles with a 12 cm (4.75 in) base.

  6. Roll each triangle up from the base to the tip, tuck the tip underneath and bend the ends in slightly into a crescent. Place 5 cm (2 in) apart on parchment-lined trays.

  7. Proof, loosely covered, for 1.5 to 2 hours at about 26°C (79°F) until puffy and wobbly. If butter starts to leak out, move them to a cooler spot.

  8. Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F). Brush the cornetti with the yolk wash and bake 18 to 20 minutes until deep golden. Cool 10 minutes on a rack.

  9. For each cappuccino, pull an espresso into a 150 to 180 ml cup. Steam 120 ml cold whole milk to 60 to 65°C (140 to 150°F), until it is glossy and thick, and pour it in so the foam forms a cap about 1 cm (1/2 in) deep. Serve with a warm cornetto.

chef's tips

  • Freeze the shaped, unproofed cornetti on a tray, then bag them. Proof from frozen for 3 to 4 hours, then glaze and bake.
  • For cornetti alla crema or marmellata, pipe pastry cream or apricot jam into a slit in the cooled cornetto.
  • No steam wand: heat the milk to 65°C (150°F) in a pan and froth with a handheld frother. Do not let it boil, or the foam goes flat.