Zeppoline with seaweed

I ate this in a Neapolitan trattoria, Don Vincenzo. Even though I lost my appetite due to the heat, I could not stop myself wolfing down these zeppoline, basically, fried pizza dough balls. They can be sweet or savoury. In this case they were typically flavoured with local seaweed.

Course: Sides, Snacks, Starters, Vegetarian sides

Cuisine: Italian, Neopolitan

Keyword: Campania recipes, Fried pizza dough, Italian food, Italian recipes, Naples, Neopolitan recipes, Vegetarian italian, zeppoline

Servings: 6

Equipment

Deep fryer/deep frying pan

Ingredients

200 ml tepid water
7 mg fast action yeast or 15g fresh yeast
1 tsp sugar or honey
250 g Plain flour
1 tsp sea salt
3 tbsp Seaweed nori flakes or other types
Olive oil for frying

Instructions

Mix the water and the yeast with the sugar and wait till it froths a little.
Add this to the flour, mixing well until you have a wet dough. Add the salt and the seaweed.
Cover and leave to rise for 2 hours, it should double.
I've used olive oil for frying here but you can use vegetable, sunflower or groundnut oil. Either use a deep fryer or a deep frying pan. Heat up the oil to 180Cº
Using a teaspoon to scoop a heaped mound from the dough, drop it into the oil. The dough immediately expands to double the size. Fry until golden, continue until all the dough is used. Eat the zeppoline hot! (Lovely dipped into the juices of a salad dressing).