We are pleased to start the Blog with the effective help of our cooking assistants, Letizia and Morena, whose contribute has been precious.
The preparation of the Torte di Pasqua is a very old tradition. These torte (raised pies)
can be savoury or sweet and reflect the tipical conviviality, the way to
celebrate the Holiday of Easter of the locals. The origin seems to root back to the "Umbri", ancient tribes of Italic origin, that inhabited the region thousands years ago, and used to make the mefa spefa, a bread with flour, milk, eggs. In ancient Rome too, there was a special bread with a dough enreached of eggs and cheese, baked upon bay leaves, a usage still tipical among the elder communities. These flavoured breads, all come from rituals and religious festivities.
A common characteristic of actual traditional recipies is given by the egg, considered
such as a true unit of measurament. One egg to correspond to the quantity of salt or
other ingredients, while flour is always given as “quanto basta”, just the amount
needed to reach the right consistency
TORTA DOLCE DI PASQUA Ingredients for 2 cakes 8eggs 400g sugar 100g raisins 200g candied citron and cherries cut in pieces 1 lemon 1 orange 1⁄2 glass cinnamon rosolio 1 glass milk 100g fat 100g fresh beer yeast 1 kg e 200g flour – 00 – all purpose Fat to grease the pots Break the eggs into a bowl and keep the egg whites apart. Mix the yolks with sugar, till doubling the volume, add the candies, the raisins, lemon and orange juice and their grated zest, pour the rosolio and mix all very well together. Whip the egg white and add. Melt the fat in warm milk, then add fresh yest too. Make a well with the flour and pour the milk in. Start mixing from the inside add the egg mixing and mix together to obtain a not very thick dough. Cover and leave raising in a warm place for about 30 min. Grease two high pots, knead the dough again, for 5 min. Pour it into the pots till the half. Leave raising in a warm place, cover the pots with a cloth and place near some warm water. After 1,15 hour, place the pots in a preheated oven (190°C) for 20 min, then low down at 170° for about 20 min more, then turn off the heat. After 2-3 min take off the cake from the pot and cool it down on a grid.
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