Divina Cucina

Your Best Friend in Italy

Spring is here

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Nothing can stop Spring from coming.
We may be blocked in our homes, going out just to shop for essentials, but life goes on.

Italy is just really opening up the vaccinations, there have been so many holdbacks. We are still in red zone until after Easter and then in orange zone until the end of the month.

 

I am just sending out a newsletter with some of my Easter lunch ideas. Stop by and sign up!

Holidays are not simply a one day thing here, there are usually several days involved. Perhaps not officially but Easter  which is Pasqua has Easter Monday as a holiday, Pasquetta.

It is the custom to spend it in the countryside. After the huge Easter food orgy which normally takes place, a picnic in the country and a nice walk are welcome.

One of my favorite recipes is from Naples for a savory bread stuffed with meats and cheese and an egg baked on top. Casatiello.

It really isn’t hard to make if you can make a simple dough.

I also like making a mini panino size one, with or without the egg.

These fotos are from my live zoom class and as I had to rush it, I didn’t let it rise the full 2 hours.But it was still delicious!

In Naples you find two versions, one like this with the eggs in the shell put on top of the bread after it has risen or another version called Tortano, where you cook hard boiled eggs and place them inside with the meats and cheeses.

This is the mini panino version. There is as much filling as there is dough.

I used cubes of mortadella, provolone and salame. The bread dough was rubbed with lard first and then sprinkled with pecorino romano cheese and black pepper. They you roll it up like a jelly roll and brush with an egg wash before baking.

I put and egg in the mini one as I thought it would be nice on the table and you could write someone’s name on it as a place card.

It is best eaten cold. The flavors get a chance to blend. Trust me.

If you make this, post a photo and tag me!

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Buona Pasqua

Print
Casatiello- Easter Bread from Naples

Ingredients

  • 1 package active dry yeast
  • 2 cups warm water
  • 4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
  • 4 ounces lard or 1/3 Filippo Berio cup olive oil 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
  • 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
  • Filling Ingredients
  • 2 oz lard or olive oil
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 pound chunk provolone or scamorza cheese, cut into cubes 1/2 pound chunk mortadella, salami, or boiled ham cut into cubes Grinding black pepper
  • 5 eggs

Instructions

  1. Make the dough first. It needs to rise.
  2. Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water and allow to get foamy looking.
  3. Heap the flour on a work surface or add it to the work bowl of a stand mixer.
  4. Add the yeast, lard or olive oil, salt and pepper and work it into the flour; add the cheese and enough additional warm water to make a soft ball of dough. You can also add pepper to the dough if you like.
  5. Cover and let it rise for 1 1/2 hours in a warm place, or until it doubles in size.
  6. Preheat the oven to 375F.
  7. Grease a 10 inch tube pan with a removable bottom and set aside.
  8. Punch down the dough and break off a large orange-size piece and set aside.
  9. Knead the remaining dough and roll out into a large 18 by 14-inch rectangle and spread with the lard or brush with olive oil. Sprinkle with grated pecorino romano cheese and pepper.Then scatter the meats and cheeses over the surface to within an inch of the edges.
  10. Starting at the longest side, roll the dough up as for a jellyroll, making sure to tuck in the ends and place it in the tube pan. Tuck the two ends together.
  11. Cover and allow to rise for about 1 hour or until the dough is 3/4 of the way up the sides of the pan.
  12. Place 4 of the eggs randomly on the top of the dough, pressing them in to anchor them. Divide the saved piece of dough into 8 equal pieces and roll each piece into a 4-inch-long length. Use two pieces to make a cross over each egg. Beat the remaining egg with a fork and brush it over the surface of the dough.
  13. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until golden brown. Let cool on a rack then run a butter knife along the inside edges of the pan, and loosen the bottom and remove it from the pan.
  14. I think it is best served at room temp.
https://divinacucina.com/2021/04/spring-is-here-4/

Comments

  1. Paulette McPherson says

    I am finding your recipe confusing – it appears like we are being instructed to make 2 doughs – there are slight differences in the steps – are steps 9, 10, and 11 an error?