Taralli are savoury or sweet snacks from Puglia in the south of Italy. I have recently returned from Puglia where I travelled around for a few days before joining a cookery and yoga retreat in Conversano, about 40 minutes drive from Bari, one of the main cities in Puglia.

Our cookery teacher, Lucrezia, taught us in Italian and now I can speak Italian really well (so long as I talk about olive oil, aubergines, courgettes, pasta and tiramisu).

Taralli can be plain or spiced up with chilli, black pepper, oregano or fennel seeds. I’m planning to experiment with some other flavours.

We made both sweet and savoury taralli on the retreat and I bought a big batch home with me. They lasted for about 10 days and I had so many I gave away several to friends and family (they make great presents). I have just made another batch of the savoury version using cracked black pepper in one batch and oregano in another. I love piling them into storage jars for display in the kitchen.

My taralli are very variable in size! It takes practice to get a uniform look although I also think it’s quite nice having a choice of sizes. Making taralli is a great way to slow down and relax.

Puglia is the main olive oil production region for the whole of Italy and I brought back a few cans, so some of that olive oil in this recipe.

This is Lucrezia’s recipe:

Ingredients

• 500 grams plain flour
• 1 tsp/10 grams salt
• 150 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 200ml dry white wine
• Optional herbs/spices: 1-2 tsp black pepper, oregano, fennel seeds, chilli powder etc

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Add the oil and wine, and mix with a fork until the dough forms into a rough mass.
2. Tip out onto a board or work surface and knead for about 5 minutes, until smooth.
3. For different flavours, separate into 2 batches and work in the flavours into each (I used cracked black pepper and dried oregano) and continuing kneading for a few minutes longer.
4. Cover and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
5. Take walnut-sized pieces of dough and shape into thin ropes about 5 inches (10 cm) long, then bring the ends together to form a ring.
6. Pre-heat the overn to 200C.
7. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and drop the taralli in the water they rise to the surface (about 1 minute). Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a clean cloth to dry.
8. Place the taralli on baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake for about 25 minutes until golden.