Calabria — pitta 'mpigliata is specifically associated with San Giovanni in Fiore (Cosenza province) and the broader Sila plateau area. It is a Christmas preparation made in the weeks before December 25 and kept through the holiday period. The preparation reflects the Greek-Byzantine culinary heritage of Calabria (Magna Graecia).
Pitta 'mpigliata (or pitta 'mpigghiata in the Calabrian dialect — 'mpigliata meaning 'entangled' or 'wrapped') is the most celebrated Christmas pastry of Calabria — an individually rose-shaped pastry of thin, lard-enriched dough filled with a mixture of walnuts, honey, raisins, figs, cinnamon, cloves, and candied citron, then pulled into tight petals and baked golden. The visual effect is of a chrysanthemum or rose — the individual dough petals gathered at the base and opening at the top, golden from baking, with the honey-nut filling visible in the centre. The combination of sweet-spiced filling with the short, lard-enriched pastry is one of the definitive expressions of the Calabrian Christmas table.
Pitta 'mpigliata is a pastry of considerable beauty — the rose-shaped petals opening around the nut-and-honey centre, golden from the oven, fragrant with cinnamon and clove. Biting through the short pastry releases the sweet, nutty, spiced filling, sticky with honey. The final honey glaze makes each pastry glisten. It is the most festive preparation in the Calabrian pastry tradition.
Pastry dough: 300g 00 flour, 80g lard (or butter), 1 egg, white wine (enough to bind — about 50ml), pinch of salt, orange zest. Mix to a smooth, short dough; rest 30 minutes. Filling: chop walnuts, raisins soaked in Calabrian wine, dried figs (diced), candied citron, honey (warm to loosen), cinnamon, and cloves — mix to a coherent, dense mixture. Roll dough thin (2mm). Cut into rectangles (15x8cm). Place filling along the long edge. Roll tightly. Coil the roll into a rose shape, pulling and gathering the layers to create the petal effect. Pinch at base. Brush with egg wash. Bake at 170°C for 30-35 minutes until golden. Cool; brush with additional warm honey.
Calabrian bees produce several distinctive honey types — chinotto orange honey and wildflower honey from the Aspromonte are the most traditional choices for pitta 'mpigliata. The final honey brushing after baking should be applied warm while the pastry is still hot — it soaks into the surface. These pastries keep for 2 weeks in a tin — the honey acts as preservative.
Dough too thick — thick pastry doesn't create the delicate petal effect and the pastry-to-filling ratio is wrong. Filling too liquid — if the honey is too warm and liquifies the mixture, it will flow out during baking; the filling must be dense. Not pinching the base firmly — a loose base allows the rose to uncoil during baking.
Carol Field, The Italian Baker; Slow Food Editore, Calabria in Cucina