How to make the Neapolitan Lard Bread:
combine the lard, yeast, and salt with the flour, adding as much water as
necessary to get a rather soft dough. Work it steadily for about 10 min.
Place it into a bowl previously sprinkled with flour, cover with a
woolen cloth and leave it to raise in a lukewarm place. After about 1
1/2 hours, when the dough has leavened, place it on a pastry board,
punch it with your hands to stop it swelling and flatten it out in a
0,3-in.-high rectangle shape. Grease it with lard, add the diced salame
and sprinkle with a little pepper, Pecorino Romano and Parmigiano. Fold
the dough in two, grease the top with some more lard, and sprinkle with
more Parmigiano and pepper. Fold in two again, flatten out and grease
some more. Repeat until you have used up all the lard. Now take a small
piece of dough the size of a bun, grease the outside with lard, and
place it to leaven separately in a bowl.
This will help you place the eggs onto the top of the casatiello. Fold the dough onto itself to make a stick. Grease a
round baking pan with a hole in the middle (8-12 in. diameter). Place
the dough stick inside it joining the ends and squeezing them so they
adhere well to each other. Put the dough away to leaven for another 3
hours. Gently wash the shells of the raw eggs in lukewarm water and dry
them. When the dough has risen, place 6 eggs on top of it arranging them
at even distances from each other and with the tips pointing toward the
center of the mold. Take the small piece of dough you kept aside and
make a stick as thin as a pencil. Chop the stick into 12 small bits and
arrange them in 2 at a time cross-like on the eggs making the ends stick
to the dough.
The casatiello is now ready. Put it in an
almost cold oven and bake over a medium heat for about one hour. When it
has turned an even color, take it out of the oven and let it cool before
serving. Enjoy your Casatiello!
Recipe courtesy of The Italian Trade Commission.
Serves 4-6
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