Easter in Umbria means it’s time for Torta Di Pasqua, a rich holiday cheese bread unique to the region. Visiting chef Jennifer McIlvaine stopped by to bake a scrumptious batch in our laboratorio kitchen, and gave us her recipe. But because every Umbrian family has their own special way of making Torta Di Pasqua, we asked several of our friends for their recipes. Simone, Ernesto, and Marco and Chiara all chimed in, and each of their ways of making Torta Di Pasqua sound amazing. Try them out at home with cheese from our cheese counter and tell us which version you like best!
Ready for the oven, miniature-style!
Ernesto’s Torta Di Pasqua
5 eggs
1T of oil or 1T of pork fat (strutto)
2 cubes (50g) fresh yeast
5 pinches of salt
100g gruyere cut into cubes
100g parmigiano grated
Flour
Mix together eggs, oil, yeast salt and parmigiano. Add flour until you have a soft dough. Add gruyere cubes. Fill a buttered baking tin just under half full. Let rise for one hour. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180c.
Here’s what you’ll need to make you very own Torta di Pasqua!
Marco and Chiara’s Torta Di Pasqua
10 eggs
200 grams wet yeast
800 grams grated cheese (parmigiana, pecorino, swiss) – leave some in larger pieces
250 grams unsalted butter melted
30 grams salt
black pepper
10li grams sugar
Water, oil and flour as needed
Separate the eggs. Whip the egg whites into stiff peaks. Mix the yeast with sugar, warm water and tablespoon of flour and let sit.
Beat the egg yolks until creamy, add the melted butter, salt, pepper and cheese. Fold into the egg whites. Add yeast. Mix in flour, water and oil until you reach desired consistency.
Butter the baking molds. Split the dough into four pieces, roll into balls and place into each mold (filling approximately half full). Cover and let rise (sitting next to a pot of hot water) for 3 hours.
When the dough reaches the top of the mold bake in a 160c oven for 30 minutes. Raise the temperature to 180c and cook for additional 10 minutes. When the top starts to brown cover with aluminum.
It’s not fun unless you get a little messy.
Simone’s Torta Di Pasqua
2.2 lbs pizza dough
10 eggs
1 cup parmigiano
1 cup Romano
1 cup strong pecorino grated
Salt
Pepper
1 tbs yeast
1 cup butter
1 cup pork fat
1 cup olive oil
Work all the ingredients together. Add 00 flour until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Let sit for three hours and then knead it. Fill a buttered pan half full. Let sit again in the oven off with a pot of hot water (to maintain humidity). Wait until doubled. Bake for 2 hours at 325 degrees. Test with a tooth pick . When it’s ready, set upside down until cool.
Let us know how you Torta Di Pasqua turns out and send photos of your bake-a-thon to feedme@viaumbria.com. Best of luck!
Easter in Umbria means it's time for Torta Di Pasqua, a rich holiday cheese bread unique to the region. Visiting chef Jennifer McIlvaine stopped by ...
Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year. Family and friends all get together to eat, play games and watch football. No gifts are exchanged and everyone can join in the preparations. Perhaps we overdid a bit this week – but we sure had fun along the way. Five nights – 30 people each night. My kitchen will never be the same.
Tuesday — Pizza night! Gotta love having a wood burning pizza oven in the kitchen. I’m still working on my dough technique (Austin definitely has to come back from Italy and take on this task) but I did manage to put together a passable dough. The pizzas take 3-5 minutes to cook so everyone can put together the pizza of their choice and we crank them out until everyone groans to stop.
Best pizza of the night?
Tomato sauce
Raw sausage
Onions
Fresh mozzarella
Of course drizzled with a spicy olive oil when it is finished
Wednesday – Lobster bake. My favorite email the week before Thanksgiving was from my brother Chad “warning” us that he was going to make a big mess in the backyard on Wednesday night. The email had an attachment of anticipated deliveries of seaweed and shellfish and directions for where and how to storeeverything. I missed the preparation process – but we did end up with 30 lobsters cooked in the firepit out back, clams and fresh oysters.
Thursday – The big day! Having a fridge full of seafood on Wednesday necessitated a trip to the grocery on Thursday morning to pick up a few essentials – namely turkey, potatoes, cranberries and everything else we wanted to cook. We had avoided the crowds all week and the Safeway was well stocked and peaceful. Everyone was still sleeping when we got back and Debbie and I were able to prep the veggies, bake a couple of pies and get breakfast out for the kids. We left for the movies at 1:15 with the kids (mostly teen-agers now) and left the spouses and uncles in charge of fire and meat. Seemed like a good fit. Dinner was precisely at 6:00 and in addition to the mashed potatoes, cranberry chutney and vegetables the boys served up roasted turkey, grilled prime rib, lamb roasted over the fire, tuna poke and octopus. Where to begin?
Best veggie of the night?
Brussel sprouts steamed tossed with candied walnuts, butter and pomegranate seeds.
Friday – No leftovers for us. This is where our competitive side comes out and its all about the Chili cookoff. The kids are experts and they spend the weeks before researching and testing their new chili ideas. Uncle Michael has been making the same chili for years and keeps winning year after year – you’d think the kids would give up but it just makes them more determined to best him. The best part of the cookoff is standing back and watching the kids go to work. Everyone is slicing and dicing and sneaking off to add a secret ingredient to the pot. The kitchen is noisy and chaotic but everyone has a plan. And then, it gets quiet. The five chili pots are simmering and everything is being washed and put away in anticipation of the judging. Big victory this year. Josh’s chili comes in first and Uncle Michael comes in second. Of course my team comes in dead last. Oh well, there is always next year.
Secret to winning?
Fritos, sour cream, grated cheese and freshly diced onions
Saturday — Pizza delivery never tasted so good – and the cleanup was a breeze!
