January 6th is Befana in Italy, also known as Epiphany, Twelfth Night or Three Kings day in various cultures. Befana is a winter witch who brings treats for children and sweeps away the old year. I kind of love that throughout christianization Italians have stubbornly held on to their winter witch. Like most holidays Befana/ Epiphany predates the current Christian celebration and marks the end of the liminal time between Christmas and New Years. I like having that end marked in some way, this always feels like such a weird time of year for me.
Focaccia della Belfana
Despite being called focaccia, this is an enriched bread with milk eggs and butter. It’s a little sweet, but not overly so. I use a gluten free brioche recipe, but you can use a brioche (or other enriched dough) that you like. I flavored mine with orange zest and chocolate- dried fruit would be more traditional. Befana, like many of the Winter Witches is often represented by a star, her cookies are almost always star shaped, so I added the star on top after baking. We enjoy our Focaccia della Befana for breakfast (and left a bit out for Befana last night) and start the process of cleaning out the old year.
To shape your dough, pat it out into a circle that will fit in a 9″ cake pan. Use a glass to mark a circle in the center, don’t cut all the way through the dough, but push it down almost to the counter.
Use a knife to cut the dough into 8 equal section from the edge to circle you made. (So the dough is still connected in the center.)
Transfer your bread into the pan and then twist each of the sections twice. Bake as directed.
Once your focaccia is cooled, cut a star shaped stencil from paper and dust with powdered sugar to make Befana’s star in the center of the bread. You can trace a cookie cutter or freehand the star. Enjoy!
[…] most often make a Focaccia della Befana, but there are many, many options for delicious sweet […]
[…] bread differently for different results. This sun bread is from the same base recipe that I make my Befana bread, conchas and a number of other breads from. If you need a vegan recipe, find a good basic vegan […]
[…] you have read my blog before you may know that I am a huge fan of Befana (check out my Befana bread here) and always include her in our Twelfth Night festivities, I have even considered writing a picture […]
These celebration ideas are delightful! I love the idea of this bread and the directions for how to cut it. A recipe for the bread would be awesome or even the amounts of orange zest and type of chocolate to use. The recipe link is to a cook book.
I use a recipe from the linked cookbook, but you can use any brioche recipe you like!