Casatiello
Casatiello is the Easter bread of Naples, baked on Holy Saturday and eaten on Easter Sunday and at the Pasquetta picnic on Easter Monday, out of town. It is a peppery yeast dough made with lard, rolled up with salami, provolone, pecorino and pork cracklings, with whole eggs in their shells baked on top under crosses of dough. The result is a rich, fragrant ring you slice like a cake. It takes time — a lard dough rises slowly — but the actual work is under an hour.
Your own work in that: 50 min.
- Kneading 20 min
- Rising 180 min
- Filling and shaping 30 min
- Second rise 120 min
- Baking 60 min
- Cooling 135 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneKnead the dough
Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. In a stand mixer bowl combine the flour with the yeast water, add the salt and pepper and knead with the hook for 8–10 minutes until smooth.
Ingredients: 500 g plain wheat flour · 300 ml lukewarm water · 10 g fresh yeast · 70 g lard, soft · 9 g salt · 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Add the lard
Add the lard a spoonful at a time and knead 5–8 minutes more until fully absorbed and the dough is soft, elastic and glossy.
Ingredients: 500 g plain wheat flour · 300 ml lukewarm water · 10 g fresh yeast · 70 g lard, soft · 9 g salt · 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Lard absorbed — the dough shines.Leave to rise
Cut off about 100 g of dough for the crosses and keep it under cling film. Shape the rest into a ball, cover and leave at room temperature (about 22°C) for 2–3 hours until doubled — a lard dough rises more slowly than usual. In a warmer kitchen, check it after 1.5 hours.
Ingredients: 500 g plain wheat flour · 300 ml lukewarm water · 10 g fresh yeast · 70 g lard, soft · 9 g salt · 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Prepare the filling
Cut the salami and provolone into roughly 1 cm cubes and crumble any large cracklings. Mix with the pecorino and pepper.
Ingredients: 150 g salami (e.g. napoletano), in one piece · 150 g provolone or another mature semi-hard cheese · 100 g cicoli or crisp pork cracklings · 50 g pecorino romano, grated · ½ tsp black pepper · 10 g lard for brushing the dough and tin
Fill and roll
Grease a tube tin of about 2.5 litres (24–26 cm across) with lard — dough and filling will fill it roughly halfway. Roll the dough into a rectangle about 50 × 30 cm, brush thinly with lard and scatter over the filling, leaving a 2 cm border. Roll up tightly from a long side, stretch the roll gently so it reaches round the tube, and lay it in the tin seam side up, pinching the ends together.
Ingredients: 150 g salami (e.g. napoletano), in one piece · 150 g provolone or another mature semi-hard cheese · 100 g cicoli or crisp pork cracklings · 50 g pecorino romano, grated · ½ tsp black pepper · 10 g lard for brushing the dough and tin
Filling spread evenly, with a border to seal.Add the eggs
Press the 4 eggs into the dough at even intervals. Roll the reserved dough into 8 thin ropes and lay a cross over each egg, pressing the ends into the dough. Cover and leave for 1.5–2 hours until the dough has risen almost to the rim.
Ingredients: 4 pcs eggs in their shells, washed
Dough crosses hold the eggs in place.Bake
Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (top and bottom heat) for 55–60 minutes until deep golden. If the top browns too fast, cover it with foil after 30 minutes.
Ingredients: 500 g plain wheat flour · 300 ml lukewarm water · 10 g fresh yeast · 70 g lard, soft · 9 g salt · 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Cool
Cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool at least 2 hours. It slices best lukewarm or cold. The eggs on top are hard-boiled and can be eaten.
Ingredients: 500 g plain wheat flour · 300 ml lukewarm water · 10 g fresh yeast · 70 g lard, soft · 9 g salt · 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Before you start
Casatiello vs tortano
Tortano is a similar Neapolitan bread in which hard-boiled eggs are chopped and rolled inside. In casatiello the eggs bake on top in their shells.
Substitutes
Replace cicoli, Neapolitan pressed pork cracklings, with crisp cracklings from pork fat or fried diced bacon. Provolone can be replaced with mature Gouda or caciocavallo.
Storage
Wrapped in a cloth somewhere cool, casatiello keeps 2 days, and up to 4 days in the fridge — bring it to room temperature before serving. Eat the eggs from the top on baking day; if the bread is to keep longer, take them off and refrigerate it. It can be frozen in pieces, without the eggs.
