Casatiello: Easter bread from Naples
Posted by Claudia | |
Casatiello: a tasty Neapolitan Easter Bread! The bread takes a long time to be prepared but it is worth it. It is almost 3 hours long. Usually my granny loved to prepare for all the family up to 4 Casatiello bread rings on Easter time, because she knew how much we loved it! It is great after days still and you can reheat in the oven with a bit of pecorino cheese on it to make it ven more yummy and tasting!
Dough:
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 2 cups warm water
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 4 ounces lard or 1/3 olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Filling:
- 1/2 pound chunk provolone or scamorza cheese, cut into cubes
- 1/2 pound chunk mortadella, salami, or boiled ham cut into cubes
- 4 eggs
- Salt to taste and Grinding black pepper
Preheat the oven at 375F, then make a basic bread dough, and it has to rise until double.
Roll out into a large square on which you will spread some lard (225g/half pound will be sufficient) and sprinkle the pepper. Add 1/4 lb each of chopped up salame and pancetta and a little bit of chopped up prosciutto. Put on the top of it the grated pecorino romano or parmigiano and create like a tubular form.
Grease a food cake pan with some lard and place the tubular cake inside shaping it as a ring.
You need to put in it 5 eggs, fresh and not boiled on top and put 2 strips of dough like an X on top to hold down the eggs. Let the casatiello bread rise for another hour or even more until doubled.
After, place it in oven at 375 – 400 F (185-200 C) for an hour and once it is out of the oven, let casatiello cool in a paper bag. Leave it for the following day and do not slice until the next morning. Be patient and it would taste great!
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