Casatiello

Ingredients

• For the dough
• 500 g strong white flour
• 300 ml water, lukewarm
• 100 g strutto (rendered pork lard), not vegetable shortening
• 7 g dried yeast
• 10 g fine salt
• 1 tsp black pepper, coarsely cracked
• For the filling
• 150 g salame napoletano, cut into small cubes
• 150 g cicoli (pork cracklings), rendered pork fat scraps with meaty bits
• 100 g provola, cut into small cubes
• 100 g sharp pecorino, cut into small cubes
• For the assembly
• 6 eggs, whole, raw, in their shells — 4 to crown the ring, remainder used for dough crosses

Method

1. 1
   Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water. Place the flour in a large bowl with the salt and cracked black pepper. Add the yeast liquid and the strutto. Work the mixture until a cohesive dough forms, then knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth, supple, and elastic — the dough should spring back cleanly when pressed with a fingertip.
2. 2
   Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and leave to rise in a warm place for several hours until it has at least doubled in volume. The surface should dome visibly and the dough feel pillowy and full of air when the bowl is tilted.
3. 3
   Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten it into a long rectangle. Distribute the cubed salame napoletano, cicoli, provola, and pecorino evenly across the surface. Roll the dough up firmly to enclose the filling, then form it into a ring, pressing the ends together to seal. Transfer to a well-greased tube pan. This is the step on which the casatiello lives or dies: the filling must be generous and distributed throughout — a sparse interior betrays the entire tradition.
4. 4
   Press the whole raw eggs, still in their shells, at even intervals into the surface of the ring. Using small strips of dough, form a cross over each egg and press the ends firmly into the ring to anchor them — the eggs must be held securely or they will dislodge during baking.
5. 5
   Cover the pan and leave the casatiello to rise again in a warm place until the dough is visibly swollen and has risen well above the rim of the pan.
6. 6
   Bake in a moderate oven until the casatiello is deep golden-brown all over, fragrant with pork fat and black pepper, and sounds hollow when tapped on the base. The eggs will have hard-cooked in their shells during baking. Remove from the pan and leave to cool completely on a rack before cutting.