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1
Place the bread cubes in a wide bowl. Pour the warmed milk over them and turn gently to coat. The cubes should be moistened throughout but not sodden — they must retain their identity as pieces, not collapse to a paste. Leave to absorb for 10 minutes.
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2
Melt the 20 g butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent, then add the diced speck and sauté briefly until the fat turns fragrant and the edges of the speck begin to colour. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
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3
Add the beaten eggs, flour, chives, and the cooled speck-and-onion mixture to the soaked bread. Fold together with a light hand — this is where the dish lives or dies: over-working compresses the bread cubes into a homogeneous paste and produces a heavy, dense dumpling; the finished mixture must show distinct pieces of bread suspended in a cohesive but loose mass. Season with salt.
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4
Cover the bowl and rest the mixture for 30 minutes at room temperature. The bread will absorb the egg and milk more evenly during this time. After resting, the mixture should hold its shape when pressed lightly in the palm.
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5
With wet hands, shape the mixture into balls the size of a tennis ball — roughly 8–10 in total. If the first ball does not cohere, return the mixture to the bowl and work in a little more flour or one further beaten egg, then test again before shaping the remainder.
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6
Bring a large pot of salted water or beef broth to a gentle simmer — never a rolling boil. Lower the canederli in carefully. Poach for 10–15 minutes. They are ready when they float to the surface and feel firm but yielding when pressed; cut one open to confirm the centre is cooked through, showing a uniform, tender crumb with no raw, gummy core.
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7
To serve in broth: ladle 2–3 canederli into warmed deep bowls and pour the hot amber consommé around them. To serve asciutti: drain the canederli, arrange on warmed plates, spoon over the golden melted butter and crisp breadcrumbs, and finish with grated Grana.