Neapolitan Casatiello: original foolproof recipe, step by step
Today I share the wonderful recipe for the Neapolitan casatiello, a rustic ring-shaped leavened bread filled with cured meats, cheeses and hard-boiled eggs, which is always delicious, but is traditionally prepared in Campania at Easter or Easter Monday for outings and picnics.
In Naples it is served accompanied by the “fellata“, the quintessential Neapolitan Easter appetizer, made of salted ricotta, hard-boiled eggs, cured meats and cheeses.
If you’re looking for more Easter and Easter Monday recipes (sweet and savory), click on my “Easter Recipes Special”.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Rest time: 6 Hours
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Cooking time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 8 servings
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian Regional
- Region: Campania
- Seasonality: All seasons, Easter
Ingredients for Neapolitan Casatiello (original recipe)
- 2.5 cups Manitoba flour (strong bread flour) (I use Caputo Oro (about 300 g))
- 2.5 cups Type 0 flour (I use Caputo Nuvola (about 300 g))
- 2/3 cup Milk (about 150 ml)
- 2/3 cup Water (about 150 ml)
- 0.5 oz Fresh baker's yeast (about 15 g)
- 7 oz Lard (about 7 oz (about 200 g) + 3.5 oz (about 100 g) for spreading)
- 2 2/3 tsp Fine salt (about 16 g)
- 1 tbsp Sugar (about 15 g)
- to taste Black pepper (about 4 g (≈ 1 3/4 tsp))
- 4.2 oz Neapolitan salami (cut into strips (about 120 g))
- 5.3 oz Mortadella (diced (about 150 g))
- 4.2 oz Cicoli (soft pork cracklings) (soft, diced – optional (about 120 g))
- 3.5 oz Provolone, semi-sharp (diced (about 100 g))
- 3.5 oz Provolone, mild (diced (about 100 g) (I use Auricchio))
- 3.5 oz Caciocavallo (diced (about 100 g) (I use "bebè di Sorrento"))
- 1/2 cup Grated Parmigiano and/or Pecorino (about 50 g)
- to taste Black pepper (at least 2 g)
Tools
- Kitchen scale
- Mixing bowls various sizes
- Cutting board with two integrated side trays for scraps
- Mezzaluna sharp, double blade
- Stand mixer Kenwood, with 7 L illuminated bowl, W1400
- Bundt/pan Casatiello molds set various sizes
Preparation of Neapolitan Casatiello (original recipe)
Note: both the lard and the yeast must be at room temperature, NOT cold from the refrigerator
Dissolve the fresh yeast in 150 ml of warm water and 150 ml of warm milk (about 79°F) in a bowl.
Add all the flour and the sugar and work the dough in the stand mixer with the paddle attachment for about 7 minutes at speed 1 (about 30 minutes by hand), until it detaches from the sides.
Then, when the dough is binding and wraps into a single piece around the paddle, add 200 g of lard – one tablespoon at a time – (it must absorb the first before you add the second and so on). Add also the pepper and continue working at speed 1.5 for at least another 10–15 minutes.
Finally, remove the paddle and work the dough with the dough hook, add the salt and work everything at speed 2 for another 3 minutes or so.
In total, the casatiello dough should be worked in the mixer for a maximum of about 25 minutes, otherwise it will get too warm.
Perform 2 or 3 strengthening folds.
Place the dough to rise in a lightly oiled bowl (use lard) and spread a thin layer of lard over the surface as well; let it rise for about 3 hours.
Note: the cured meats and cheeses should also be at room temperature (NOT straight from the fridge)
After the rising time, with hands greased with lard, stretch the dough with your oiled hands (DO NOT use a rolling pin) into a rectangle and spread the surface with lard and more pepper. Then arrange the filling: cured meats, cheeses, pepper and the grated cheese (Parmigiano or Pecorino). Before rolling, press lightly with your hands so the filling adheres well to the dough, leaving a clean edge on all sides.
P.S.: When I add the filling to the dough, I take it with my hands greased with lard to flavor it.
Roll the casatiello dough onto itself into a sausage shape and, at each coil, brush lightly with lard. Pierce the surface with a skewer in a few points (3–4).
Gently place the dough in a 10 in (25 cm) pan greased with lard (DO NOT flour). Also grease the surface of the casatiello.
Let it rise for about 3–4 hours until it reaches the top of the pan.
Bake the casatiello in a static (conventional) oven at 320°F; however, start baking at 212°F when it has NOT yet reached 320°F (the Neapolitan casatiello must bake slowly) and cook for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. Unmold from the pan when it is cold.
The Neapolitan casatiello improves if it rests for a day.
This is the tortano without external eggs.
This, instead, is the traditional casatiello with raw eggs placed externally on the dough; the strips of dough that cage the partially submerged eggs represent the cross on which Jesus died and also his crown of thorns, while the ring shape recalls the cyclicality inherent in the Easter resurrection.
Shopping tips!!!
To knead to perfection, I use my Titanium Chef Patissier XL stand mixer with illuminated 7L bowl, built-in scale and blender, 1400 W — a faithful ally in the kitchen for: kneading, weighing, whipping, cooking, chopping, pasteurizing eggs.
If, instead, you are looking for a more economical and smaller stand mixer, you can safely choose to buy the excellent Kenwood Titanium Chef Baker XL, 1200 W, 5 L bowl and built-in scale.
Difference between Casatiello and Tortano
The dough for tortano and casatiello is the same; the difference is that in the tortano there are no raw eggs in their shells placed on the outside of the dough.
In the casatiello, instead, the eggs are inserted – with the shell on – externally (the raw eggs in their shells are placed into niches in the dough and enclosed by strips of dough positioned in a cross over the eggs).How to store Casatiello or Tortano?
The Neapolitan casatiello or the tortano keep well for 3–4 days at room temperature covered with plastic wrap, or you can freeze them cooked and already sliced.
