14 Casatiello

I posted on the old forum on two occasions looking for a recipe for a bread common to Naples that is filled with meat and cheese. At the time it seemed that no one knew what I was talking about but at long last I have tracked down a recipe.

The bread is known as casatiello or Neapolitan lard bread. Not something I think that should be eaten too often but I am sharing the recipe here as it is absolutely delicious. It is apparently something that is made for the Easter celebrations and the recipe that follows is the particular one for Easter - you can make it smaller and omit the eggs when making it on other occasions.

[b]Edited[/b] [i]My apologies for not giving credit where credit was due - this recipe was originally posted by Cristina and she kindly sent me the link to it when she heard what I was looking for. Thanks Cristina![/i]

[b]Casatiello[/b]

Take a regular bread recipe with double yeast (1 kg. bread flour, 625 ml. water, 30 g. salt, 30 g. sugar and 60 g active dry yeast), mix and let rise.

When doubled, roll out into a large square (one side should be the about 24 inches)place on the rolled out dough lard. It should cover the dough nottoo lightly but not too heavily either.

Now grind fresh black pepper all over the dough. Next, place lots of chopped salame and pancetta (not smoked) as well as grated parmigiano (little crumbles of parm too!).

Now roll the whole thing up and place in angle food cake pan. Try to make the ends meet well to seal themselves together.

Next place the eggs (6-12) around the top and then let rise for a couple of hours in a warm area.

After rising, place in 450°F oven and cook until done (should be light brown on the outside and make a hollow sound when tapped).

Category

Food & Drink

I just [i]Googled [/i]and found the following recipe (and any more!):
Primi - [url]http://www.mangiarebene.com/accademia/primi/torte_salate/casatiello.html[/url]

There was also mention of a dolci, and if you are that much of a casatiello fan, have you tried it? :wink:
[url]http://www.gamoto.net/ricette-cucina/ricette-cucina/dolci/casatiello.htm[/url]

[quote=tuscanhills]I just [i]Googled [/i]and found the following recipe (and any more!):
Primi - [url]http://www.mangiarebene.com/accademia/primi/torte_salate/casatiello.html[/url]

There was also mention of a dolci, and if you are that much of a casatiello fan, have you tried it? :wink:
[url]http://www.gamoto.net/ricette-cucina/ricette-cucina/dolci/casatiello.htm[/url][/quote]

Am embarrased to say that I do not have enough Italian to understand the recipes above. If by dolci you are referring to the sponge cakes steeped in wine, then no, I do not like them - never been a fan of alcohol flavoured cakes.

The things from Naples that I do like are sfogliatelle (both ricce and frolle types), and a range of savoury snacks I had there from arancine, croquette, fried polenta wedges, and other things whose names I never did know. Oh, and things like calzone and fried pizza (with a ricotta filling) were very nice.

Here is a link to the picture that I gave to Sano in the other forum (note recipe is mine, some may find other recipes that are similar though) [url]http://tinyurl.com/6ce5k[/url]

P.S: for the eggs, you should never put more than 5. Even numbers are bad luck in these types of things (the original recipe did not state how many eggs, but the picture shows 5)

Cristina

I had a fabulous roll type bread at the Hotel we stayed at in Lecce,Puglia...it was smallish and round and seemed to be made with tomatoes and onions and loads of olives ( with the pips in !!)..in one small roll i had 7 olives...don't know if this was typical to the hotel, Lecce, Puglia ..or is generally available but would love to know how it is made or if it is generally available in bakers...I've not come across it before....but perhaps i was just unlucky.

[quote=alex and lyn]I had a fabulous roll type bread at the Hotel we stayed at in Lecce,Puglia...it was smallish and round and seemed to be made with tomatoes and onions and loads of olives ( with the pips in !!)..in one small roll i had 7 olives...don't know if this was typical to the hotel, Lecce, Puglia ..or is generally available but would love to know how it is made or if it is generally available in bakers...I've not come across it before....but perhaps i was just unlucky.[/quote]

I have had something simlar that was bought in a bakery in Bristol - it did not have onions, but was filled with sundried tomatoes and whole olives - was very nice.

In my hometown in South Africa there is a very common bread that is made with tomatoes and onions, but no olives.

Just wanted to report back on the casatiello. I made this on Saturday, using unsmoked bacon instead of the pancetta, which I could not find. I trimmed the fat off the bacon and gently fried this in a pan, then drained and left to set to use as lard (something else I could not find). The loaf turned out HUGE! and yes, it is definitely a heartstopper, but so very delicious!

Thanks Cristina for the recipe - I did quite a few things wrong with it, but fortunately it was very forgiving. Next step will be to try and turn the giant casatiello into little casatiello breadrolls... Roll on the May bank holiday!

[QUOTE=Sano] ...... Oh, and things like calzone and fried pizza (with a ricotta filling) were very nice.[/QUOTE]

Fried Pizza!! I thought only the "coronary capital of the western world" a.k.a. Glasgow) did this "delicacy". Glad to hear its actually a bona fide dish. Must mention that to the local chippy .... but suspect that the insipid stuff they unwrap from the plastic wrapper & deep fry in beef dripping may not be [I]quite[/I] the same as the authentic Italian version???

[QUOTE=pigro]Fried Pizza!! I thought only the "coronary capital of the western world" a.k.a. Glasgow) did this "delicacy". Glad to hear its actually a bona fide dish. Must mention that to the local chippy .... but suspect that the insipid stuff they unwrap from the plastic wrapper & deep fry in beef dripping may not be [I]quite[/I] the same as the authentic Italian version???[/QUOTE]

Yup, I would say it was ever so slightly different...

The Italian version was not folded over like a calzone, but was actually round - one pizza on top of the other, with the ricotta filling in the middle. The surface was lightly blistered but not particularly greasy. Was rich though - only got through a small portion of it, but that could also be because my host was determined that I should try ALL the Neapolitan pizza variants in one sitting, and this was the last pizza that came my way...