Have you already tasted the Casatiello Napoletano? Casatiello is the typical Neapolitan rustic cake, certainly one of the most famous savory sweets that are prepared in Naples and throughout Italy during Easter.
Why it has this name? Casatiello is so called for caseus (cheese) which in Neapolitan is called “Caso” (without pronouncing the O). In fact, Casatiello means bread with cheese and there are several testimonies that tell us how in ancient times ‘seasoned’ bread was widespread.
Since it was a cake made mainly for lean periods such as Good Friday, this one contained only cheese. The addition of cicoli and various cured meats such as mortadella, cooked ham came later, obviously the Neapolitan tradition indicates the addition of only products of Neapolitan origin such as caciocavallo or provolone and Neapolitan salami.
What ingredients do you need to make Casatiello Napoletano?
- flour: 600 gr.
- brewer’s yeast: 20 gr.
- lard: 90 gr.
- grated parmesan cheese: 50 gr.
- grated pecorino: 50 gr.
- Neapolitan salami: 150 gr.
- provolone: 150 gr.
- eggs: 4
- yolk: 1
- spoon of milk: 1
- Salt to taste.
- oil to taste
- pepper as needed.
Which procedure do we recommend you follow?
- First, take the brewer’s yeast and dissolve it with 250 ml of water at room temperature.
- Take the flour and pour it on the pastry board and make the fountain.
- Add the salt and half of the lard from the flake recipe.
- Knead vigorously, adding the dissolved yeast a little at a time until you get a soft and elastic dough.
- Shape the dough like a ball, put it in a bowl with flour and cover it with a cloth and let it rise for about 3 hours (in a warm place in the house) until it has doubled in volume.
- After this time, place the dough on a floured work surface and roll it out with a rolling pin until it forms a rectangle with a thickness of about 1 centimeter.
- After setting aside about 15 grams of lard to grease the baking pan, take only half of the remaining part and spread it on the dough.
- Place some grated cheeses, add the ground pepper.
- Proceed by folding the dough into a book and roll it out a second time.
- Spread the remaining part of the lard and place the remaining part of the grated cheeses
- Fold a second time like a book and roll out the dough again
- Fold it up and let it sit on the counter for another 15 minutes.
- After this time, set aside a piece of dough that will be useful for the strips to make on the eggs
- Roll out the dough again and place the provolone and salami that you have previously cut into cubes over the entire rectangle.
- Roll the dough on itself (like a tube) and place it in a donut mold that you have previously greased with lard
- The dough must be joined at both ends
- Cover the mold with a cloth and let it rise again for about 3 hours.
- After this time, carefully wash the eggs and place them on the dough in four equally spaced points, making them sink into the dough.
- With the pasta you have kept aside, make strips to stop the eggs.
- Beat an egg yolk together with the milk and brush the surface of the casatiello well.
- Bake for about an hour at 180 °
- Remove everything when, with the toothpick test, you are sure that the Casatiello is perfectly cooked.
- Let it cool before serving.
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