Piedmont's butter biscuits made from leavened dough — thin cylinders rolled in granulated sugar and looped into teardrops, then baked until the sugar caramelizes into a crackling crust over an airy, butter-rich crumb.
Descended from Piedmont's communal oven tradition — bakers rolled scraps of leavened dough in sugar and looped them for children waiting at the oven, using the biscuits as informal temperature gauges. Documented in the 1790 Turin Confetturiere Piemontese and in Giovanni Vialardi's 1854 Trattato di Cucina e Pasticceria Moderna; recognized as an Italian traditional agri-food product (PAT). Produced across the Lanzo Valleys, Biella, Canavese, and the Turin area.
A gentle crack at first bite, releasing warm caramelized sugar and butter; the crumb is light and yeasty, drier than shortbread but more tender than a biscotto — best alongside a glass of moscato or a spoonful of zabaione.
Yeast leavening generates CO₂ throughout the dough, building an open crumb; butter coats gluten strands, limiting network development and keeping the crumb tender rather than bready. Sugar on the exterior undergoes concurrent Maillard and caramelization reactions at 180°C: sucrose hydrolyzes into glucose and fructose, which react with surface dough proteins to produce a deep-brown caramel shell, nutty aromas, and characteristic crackling.
Variations
Biella versions are thicker and darker with higher butter content; Canavese versions sometimes substitute honey for part of the sugar; modern bakers use chestnut or whole-wheat flour for a nuttier profile; traditionally served alongside zabaione cream.
On the Palate
Where Torcetti di Lanzo sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
7 steps · 20 min
- 1120 min
Mix flour, dry yeast, salt, malt syrup, and warm water; knead until smooth; cover and ferment at room temperature for 2 hours
- 235 min
Press softened butter into the risen dough, fold and knead gently until fully incorporated; rest 30 minutes
Watch outKnead the softened butter fully into the risen dough before shaping — streaks of unincorporated butter fry out in the oven and leave greasy holes.
- 310 min
Roll portions of dough into 10 cm cylinders about 1 cm thick; brush surface with water
- 410 min
Roll each cylinder in granulated sugar, then loop into a teardrop shape, pinching the ends firmly together
- 560 min
Arrange on a parchment-lined baking sheet; cover and proof at room temperature for 1 hour until slightly puffed
- 618 min
Bake at 180°C for 15–18 minutes until golden brown and the sugar crust is fully caramelized
Watch outBake at 180°C until the sugar coating fully caramelizes to deep golden — pull them pale and the crust stays grainy instead of crackling-crisp.
- 715 min
Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before serving
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