Vallée d'Aoste Lard d'Arnad en Croûte — Lard-Wrapped Bread

Arnad and the lower Valle d'Aosta. The tradition of incorporating the lard into bread is a bakery application of the region's most famous cured product — an extension of the lard tradition beyond its conventional serving on cold bread.

The Valle d'Aosta tradition of wrapping bread dough around slices of Lard d'Arnad DOP before baking — a technique that uses the cured Alpine fatback as both filling and flavouring — produces a flatbread that is simultaneously bread and charcuterie. The thin slices of Lard d'Arnad, wrapped inside or placed on top of a simple focaccia-style dough, melt into the bread during baking, leaving fragrant herb pockets and rendering a richness into the crumb. It is the bakery preparation of the Arnad tradition — making lard the centre of a bread rather than an accompaniment.

Warm from the oven, the lard bread has pockets of herb-scented, melted fatback throughout the crumb — the rosemary and juniper of the Lard d'Arnad perfume every bite. The fat makes the crumb tender and rich. It is the most luxurious simple bread in the Valle d'Aosta.