Zuppa Cuata di Gallura con Pane Raffermo e Pecorino Sardo

Ingredients

• 1.5 litres lamb or beef broth, well-reduced and well-seasoned, boiling hot
• 400 g pane carasau or pane di Gallura, stale, at least 3–4 days old, sliced
• 250 g Pecorino Sardo Maturo, finely grated
• 15 g fresh mint leaves, torn

Method

1. 1
   Bring the broth to a full boil and keep it at a simmer throughout the assembly. It must be vigorously seasoned: taste it before beginning — the bread will dilute its intensity and it cannot be corrected once built. The broth is done when it coats the back of a spoon and tastes concentrated and fully savoury.
2. 2
   Lay a single, close-fitting layer of stale bread across the base of a terracotta baking dish. Ladle just enough boiling broth over it to moisten the slices thoroughly without pooling — each slice should be saturated but the layer should still hold its form. Scatter a generous covering of grated Pecorino and a few torn mint leaves over the surface. The bread is ready to receive the next layer when it has visibly darkened with absorbed broth and no dry patches remain.
3. 3
   This is where the dish lives or dies: continue building layers — bread, ladle of boiling broth, Pecorino, mint — repeating the cycle until the dish is full, adding the broth in stages with each layer rather than all at once. Progressive moistening, not flooding, ensures even hydration from base to top. The assembly is complete when every layer is uniformly saturated and the dish is filled to within 1 cm of the rim; no layer should feel dry or stiff when pressed lightly with the back of a spoon.
4. 4
   Pour any remaining hot broth evenly over the surface until the bread is fully saturated throughout. Finish with a final, generous layer of grated Pecorino across the entire surface — it must form a continuous, unbroken sheet, not scattered islands. The topping is sufficient when no bread is visible through the cheese.
5. 5
   Bake uncovered in an oven at 180 °C for 25–30 minutes. The dish is done when the top crust is deep golden across its entire surface and the edges show a faint, bittersweet colour — not pale and yielding, not blackened. A deep, toasted dairy aroma will be evident when the crust is properly set.
6. 6
   Remove from the oven and rest uncovered for 10 minutes before serving. The layers must set: immediately portioned, the zuppa will collapse and lose its structure. The surface crust should remain rigid when tapped lightly with a spoon.