Casatiello napoletano
Neapolitan Easter Bread with Salami and Eggs- Yield
- One 10-inch ring loaf; 12 to 14 slices
- Active
- 1 hour
- Total
- About 10 hours, including rising and cooling
- Difficulty
- Advanced
The story
Casatiello is the Easter bread of Naples: a ring of lard-enriched dough rolled around salami, cicoli (pork cracklings) and cheese, with whole eggs set into the crust under crossed strips of dough. Its name is usually traced to the Latin caseus, cheese. In the 1500s Giambattista del Tufo listed it among the Easter foods of Naples, and in the 1600s Giambattista Basile named it, together with pastiera, in his fairy tale La gatta Cenerentola, among the dishes of a royal feast. Because the dough rises for many hours, families traditionally prepare it on Good Friday and bake it on Holy Saturday. Chef Antonio Sorrentino of Torre del Greco recalls that it came to the table around noon on Holy Saturday, when the church bells rang for the Resurrection and the Holy Week abstinence ended. Some Neapolitans see the crown of thorns in the crossed strips. What is left goes on the Easter Monday picnic, called Pasquetta. Neapolitans even call a dull person 'nu casatiello. In 2027 Holy Saturday is March 27 and Pasquetta March 29. Start the dough on Friday morning and serve it with fresh fava beans in the pod and a wedge of pecorino.
Ingredients and method
The full recipe, with US and metric measures and stand-ins for hard-to-find ingredients, is part of the Easter edition. Buy it once and keep the PDF.
Want to try first? Pastiera napoletana is free to cook.