Name: Crescia al Formaggio (Umbrian Cheese Bread)
Yield: Makes one 20 or 23 cm round bread
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon fine granulated active dried yeast or instant yeast; 55 g room-temperature tap water, about 24°C; 400 g strong white bread flour; 115 g unsalted butter or leaf lard, at room temperature; 5 medium eggs, at room temperature; 80 g finely grated Grana Padano, see Note; 40 g pecorino Romano, finely grated; 50 g Swiss Gruyère, cut into 5mm dice; ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation info

Makes
one
20 or 23 cm round bread

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Nick Malgieri's Bread

By Nick Malgieri

Published 2012

About

In 1988, when I was in Italy researching my book about Italian baking, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Maria Carla Schucani-Sandri, chef/owner of the town’s top pastry shop, Sandri, maker of the best crescia in Perugia. Traditionally baked in a glazed earthenware mould similar in shape to a flowerpot, crescia is also a family speciality of my friend Rosalinda Mariotti, a native of Perugia who now lives in Eugene, Or