Crescentina — Tigelle Modenesi

Ingredients

• For the dough
• 500 g plain white flour
• 200 ml water, lukewarm
• 50 ml whole milk, lukewarm
• 7 g dried yeast, or 15 g fresh yeast
• 8 g fine salt
• 60 g lard, soft, at room temperature; not rendered strutto
• For the cunza
• 100 g fresh lard, soft, white; not rendered strutto
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 10 g fresh rosemary needles, stripped from the stalk
• To serve
• 200 g prosciutto, mortadella, or mixed local salumi, sliced
• 150 g squacquerone or stracchino, at room temperature

Method

1. 1
   Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water and milk. Place the flour and salt in a large bowl, add the dissolved yeast and the lard, and work everything together until a cohesive mass forms. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8–10 minutes. The dough is ready when it is smooth, slightly tacky, and springs back when pressed with a fingertip.
2. 2
   Shape the dough into a ball, return it to the bowl, cover with a cloth, and leave to rise at room temperature for 1 to 1.5 hours. The dough is ready when it has doubled in volume and a finger pressed into the surface leaves an impression that fills back slowly.
3. 3
   While the dough rises, make the cunza. Place the garlic cloves and rosemary needles in a mortar and pound to a rough paste. Add the fresh lard and continue pounding and working until the mixture is fully smooth, cohesive, and uniformly aromatic. The finished cunza should be spreadable and release a sharp, resinous scent.
4. 4
   Turn the risen dough out and divide it into portions of 40–50 g each. Roll each portion into a ball, then flatten by hand or with a rolling pin into a disc 8–10 cm in diameter and 1–1.5 cm thick. The discs must be uniform in thickness so that both sides cook evenly.
5. 5
   This is where the dish lives or dies. Heat the tigella mould — or two heavy cast-iron skillets — over a medium-high flame until thoroughly hot. Place the discs into the impressions, close the mould, and cook for 3–4 minutes on the first side. Flip and cook for a further 3–4 minutes. The crescentina is done when the exterior is evenly golden on both faces, the sides are set and faintly firm to the touch, and the interior — tested by pressing the edge — yields with a soft, springy resistance that is neither raw nor dry.
6. 6
   Remove the crescentine from the mould and split them horizontally at once, while they are still steaming. Spread the interior generously with cunza, allowing it to melt into the hot crumb, then fill with salumi and soft cheese as preferred. Serve immediately: the lard must glisten and the cheese must begin to soften against the heat of the bread.