Maritozzo

The maritozzo is known for its deep slit filled with white whipped cream. It is a sweet leavened bread loved in Rome, Italy, but items called by the same name also include breads with raisins and pine nuts and braided breads coated in sugar. The version filled with whipped cream is called maritozzo con la panna. Besides those in which a baked bun is filled with cream, there are versions with oil or fruit added to the dough, and the ingredients and methods vary by region and era.

Filling an olive oil dough with whipped cream

The basic dough is made by kneading flour, eggs, sugar, milk, fat and other ingredients, letting it rise, shaping it into rounds or ovals, and baking it. The recipe (the proportions of ingredients and the method of preparation) of pastry chef Fabrizio Fiorani ferments a preferment of yeast, water and flour first and then adds it to the main dough. Once the dough has developed elasticity, olive oil is gradually worked in, and salt, raisins and pine nuts are mixed in. It is flavored with honey, orange peel and vanilla, refrigerated overnight after rising, and divided the next day to rise again.

A slit is cut from the side into the baked and cooled bun, which is then filled with fresh cream whipped without sugar, smoothed flat, and finally dusted with powdered sugar. No sugar is added to the cream; the sweetness comes from the bun and the final dusting of powdered sugar. Maritozzo dough is not limited to butter-rich brioche.

A Lenten maritozzo recorded in an 1833 poem

Some of the maritozzi eaten during Lent, called quaresimale, are made with oil, pine nuts, raisins and honey. This bread also appears in the Treccani dictionary as the Roman Lenten maritozzo. The bread eaten during a period of abstinence and today’s maritozzo, generously filled with whipped cream, differ in both their ingredients and the occasions on which they are eaten.

In Giuseppe Gioachino Belli’s sonnet “La quaresima,” dated April 4, 1833, the narrator wittily says that during Lent he buys them every day and eats them even at supper, a meal he does not usually have. The author’s note explains that it is a diamond-shaped bread containing flour, oil, sugar and sometimes candied fruit, anise or raisins, and that it was eaten morning and evening in Roman cafés during the fasting period. The large layer of white cream seen today does not appear in this description.

A name tied to “husband” and the tradition of a gift for one’s fiancée

The name is linked to marito, “husband” in Roman dialect. According to a story told by the tourism office, young men gave them to their fiancées, hiding a ring or a small jewel inside. There is also a story that they were decorated with a heart made of sugar; these traditions link the origin of the name to a gift for a sweetheart.

Treccani also suggests that the name may derive from wedding customs. On the other hand, what appears in the 1833 poem introduced earlier is a bread bought and eaten every day during the fasting period. The maritozzo has both a tradition as a gift for a sweetheart and a history as an everyday Lenten food.

The sugar-coated braided breads of Bari and Sicily

The Bari maritozzo described by Puglian cooking instructor Nunzia Bellomo is made by rolling a milk-and-butter dough into ropes, braiding them, letting the braid rise, and baking it. While still hot, it is brushed with water and coated with granulated sugar; there is no step of cutting a slit and filling it with cream. The sugar clinging to the braided surface adds sweetness.

The maritozzo that Chiara in Sicily made, aiming for the flavor of a bakery in Agrigento, is also a braided bread, but it is made with flour, water, sugar, yeast and a small amount of lard, and coated with milk and sugar fresh from the oven. Although similar in shape, it differs from the Bari version made with milk and butter in the liquid and fat used in the dough.

Maritozzi from various regions made with raisins, citrus or anise

The creator behind “La Penisola del Gusto,” who remembers going to the bakery with their grandmother in Romagna, mixes raisins into a dough of milk, eggs and butter, bakes it in an elongated shape, and while it is still warm brushes it with water or milk and coats it with granulated sugar. This version also has no cream filling; its sweetness comes from the raisins mixed into the dough and the sugar on the surface.

In Marche, it is a bread scented with candied orange, eaten for breakfast or as a snack. The version made in the household of Francesca, who is from Abruzzo, uses raisins, anise, lemon peel and olive oil, is baked into an oval, and is finished with sugar syrup and granulated sugar. Even among maritozzi without whipped cream, the use of fruit and spices varies by region and household.

A sweet breakfast bread and maritozzi for meals

In Rome it is eaten at breakfast with coffee, and Roscioli’s café also offers it for breakfast and brunch. Besides sweet versions made with chocolate or jam, there is also the maritozzo salato, filled with meat, fish or vegetables. When a slit is cut into the bun and fillings are tucked inside, it can also become a bread eaten as a meal.

Commercialization in Fukuoka and its spread in Japan

In a 2021 radio interview, Ryota Hirako of Amam Dacotan said that during the period of the infectious disease outbreak, he came up with a signature product to shift customers who were concentrated in the morning to the afternoon. Taking photos by travelers to Rome as a clue, he combined a brioche to his liking with whipped cream and sold it, which drew a strong response on Instagram. An item from a local bakery, inspired by travel photos, spread its reputation through images.

In the same year, 2021, Yamazaki Baking announced a nationwide release starting in June. The product sandwiched citrus-flavored whipped cream in a brioche made with orange peel. Some of the cream-filled maritozzi sold in Japan have a citrus aroma in both the bun and the cream.

Glossary