Traditional Taralli Recipe from Puglia
When traveling through Puglia, the “heel of the boot” of Italy, food is everywhere. Beneath majestic olive trees, there are fields of red earth planted with vegetables, and the night air smells like celery. Long expanses of wheat fields produce the local flour used in excellent crusty bread, and then there are the raucous fish markets, teeming with wriggling sea creatures. And we haven’t begun to get to the exquisitely creamy burrata cheese, the oh-so-sweet tomatoes, or the heady Primitivo wine, thus named because it describes your ability to make a sentence after a few glasses.
On one occasion, while traveling through Puglia with friends, we stopped in a bar in
Martina Franca to have an aperitivo, and the waiter asked if we wanted stuzzichini - appetizer snacks – with our drinks. When we said yes, out came bowls of soft bocconcini of mozzarella, plump green olives, oven-baked black olives flecked with hot pepper, bits of salami, tiny one-bite pizzette, pickled lampascioni, sun-dried tomatoes, and crunchy taralli, spiced with fennel seeds and black pepper.
In other words, a meal for most people. When we commented to the waiter about how this could suffice as dinner, he laughed and said, “Only if you aren’t pugliese.” And so, wanting to fit in with the locals, we headed off to dinner. We found more taralli in the breadbasket at dinner, and they became our addiction during the trip.
Learning to make taralli will just be one of the many things we’ll be doing on our Pleasures of Puglia culinary tour, but since that is months away, I decided to make a batch at home. You’ll find my complete taralli recipe at the end of this post, but here are the basics:
Taralli are quite simple to make, with an unleavened dough of flour, salt, extra-virgin olive oil, and white wine. You can leave the dough plain or spice it with fennel seeds or cracked black pepper.
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. It’s okay if they look like a teardrop.
Next, the rings are briefly cooked in a pot of boiling water until they float to the 
surface, then removed with a slotted spoon and left to cool and dry on a clean cloth.
Place the taralli on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until the taralli are golden brown. Cool on a rack and serve with an aperitivo – drink the rest of that white wine you used to make the dough – or fill a breadbasket and serve at dinner.
Read more about what we’ll be doing on our Pleasures of Puglia tour.
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Traditional Taralli Recipe from Puglia
Prep Time: 1 hours, 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hours, 40 minutes
Yield: About 100 taralli
Serving Size: Unlimited!
Ingredients
- 4 cups (1 lb, 500 grams) flour
- 1 tsp (10 grams) salt
- 2/3 cup (150 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup (200 ml) dry white wine
- optional spices:
- 1-2 tsp fennel seeds or cracked black pepper
Cooking Directions
- 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.
- Dump the dough onto a wooden board and knead it for about 5 minutes, until it is smooth.
- If you want to add any optional spices, knead them into the dough (or divide the dough and add spice to ½ of the dough) - knead well to distribute the spice.
- Cover the dough and let it rest, along with your arms, for 15-30 minutes.
- Pinch walnut-sized pieces of dough, roll first between your hands, and then against the wooden cutting board, so that the dough forms a thin rope, about ½ inch (1 cm) in diameter and 4” long (10 cm).
- Shape each rope into a ring, and seal the edges together by pressing lightly, then set aside the taralli rings on a wooden board and cover with a towel.
- In the meantime, bring a large pot of water to boil.
- Put 6-10 of the taralli into the boiling water, and when they float to the surface - this will only take 30-60 seconds - remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on a cloth to dry and cool.
- Tip: Try not to plop one tarallo on top of another when dropping them into the pot, and if they stick to the bottom, give them a gentle nudge with the slotted spoon
- Put the cooled taralli on baking sheets and bake in a preheated oven at 375°F (200°C) for about 25 minutes, until golden.
- Remove and cool on racks.
- Store in a closed container to keep them crisp, and serve with an aperitivo – they are the a nice accompaniment for the rest of that dry white wine – or pile them into a breadbasket at dinner.
31 Responses to “ Traditional Taralli Recipe from Puglia ”
@Tina – So glad to hear that you made my taralli recipe and they turned out well! Flour can differ from place to place, but it sounds like you got the right consistency. Do you have a favorite flavor of the 3 you made?
We just returned from Puglia where our guide gave us her recipe for these. She did not mention the boiling step. Have you ever made them without boiling before baking?
Hi Louise – While I have seen recipes for taralli that don’t require boiling, I have never made them that way, and think the boiling step is what gives the characeristic smooth surface and particular taste to taralli – (similar to method used for making bagels). Why not make both and compare? Let me know how they turn out- Ciao, Anita
I made these today and I love them! I lived in Rome for a year and am addicted to these. They are easy to make however I found them a bit heavier than the store bought taralli. Any ideas why?
Diane- Glad to hear you made the taralli successfully. If they were a bit heavy, try cutting back on the flour, as the dough should be soft. Buon appetito!
Born and raised in Trani, Puglia, I know taralli.
Just made a batch of them following your recipe. Fantastic and delicious . Grazie
What type of white flour should be used. Bread or normal plain? Thanks
What kind of flour for these tarralli ? All purpose ,bleached,unbleached? Doesn’t matter.
thank you for the taralli recipe, its what I”ve been looking for. Im so excited I cant wait to make them, will let you know how they turned out.
My grandmother is from Bisceglie in Puglia. She made taralli every year at the holidays but used a yeast dough as we still do today. Our family taralli are coveted by our friends and family.
In Jerusalem there is a little snack like this- called beigele-for lack of anything better. A big fatter, but more or less the same.
Enjoy, everyone, whatever the version.
@ Anita – My children love the fennel ones and all the adults love the black pepper ones. just printed off the receipe again as over this wknd i will be making a few hundred for me, my mum & brother for the festive period. It takes me a long time to make them as my 6 & 7 yr old will be helping me but thats what it’s all about. Happy christmas & New year
I have been making boiled pepper biscuits for a long time ( 85 years old) the way my sainted mother taught me. In her recipe she used yeast. I notice that there is no yeast listed in your version. Does this recipe require no yeast?
Had these growing up and remember watching my mom and aunt with the pot of boiling water. we called them salt and pepper cookies. so glad i now have the recipe and make them for myself. i did find a bakery in NJ that makes them.
I made my first batch over the Holidays, and they turned out exactly lie the ones I remember from an Italian deli in elm wood park, Illinois. Today I am going to make another batch and send them to my 96 year old father in law.
The hints about the moisture vs dryness were really helpful ; I live in the southwest and a little bit of extra wine and oil made them perfect! Thanks!
Why Did my Taralli come soft inside
Wow, these are clearly difficult to mess up, YAY!! I have been buying store bought tarallis that me and my 2.5 year old love. Being someone who is always trying to make things healthier, I decided to try a half whole wheat version. So I used 50% whole wheat pastry flour and 50% organic white spelt flour – the dough was too dry, but I kept kneading and kneading 
only to realize after letting it sit for 30 minutes that it was truly too dry to stay together when rolling! So I sort of crumbled it all up again, randomly added extra oil and wine and kneaded a little more, then followed the rest of instructions. They turned out perfectly!! Great texture. I used fennel which I love. Can’t wait to see how my daughter feels about them. Next time I want to try some spicy ones, dry chilli pepper? Thank you so much.
Roni- You proabably did not bake them long enough or you had a dough that was too soft. Hope they still tasted good!
Becky- Glad these taralli brought back such good memories. And hope your 96-year old father in law enjoys his batch!
Cyndie – I like the name salt & pepper cookies – good with white wine…
That is correct Beniamino, there is no yeast in this recipe. I know some recipes call for it, but this is the one I stick with-
Rie- I know some recipes call for yeast, but mine does not.
I used all purpose flour, I don’t think it matters. This is a very forgiving recipe. Let me know how they turn out-
Plain all purpose flour – not bread flour.
Glad these turned out so well, even with your whole wheat addition-
My 4 year old and I are rapidly finishing the first bag I ever tasted and brought home from Italy yesterday….. Glad my quick thinking brought me here, LOL! I have to start baking before my little one goes into withdrawal! Thanks!!!!!!
Get in the kitchen and start baking, Gwen! I am sure your 4-year old will enjoy your homemade taralli, too.
hi.. i loved this recipe.. i would like to know is there any substitute for white wine.. because dont take alcohol in any form. And whats the difference between bread flour and plain flour. pls help me.
hi.. i loved this recipe.. i would like to know is there any substitute for white wine.. because we dont take alcohol in any form. And what is the difference between bread flour and plain flour. pls help me.
You might try using a bit of vinegar or lemon juice mixed with water instead of the wine. Bread flour has morre gluten, but using plain flour is fine. Let me know how they turn out!
August 5th, 2011 at 20:20
i made this recipe today and they turned out great! i made plain, fennel & pepper ones. dead easy to make just needed to add a bit of water to dough as was a bit dry.