Torta di Patate

Don’t start making this delicious torta until you have dried a stale white loaf in the oven to the point when it can be crushed to a powder by rolling a bottle over it on a hard surface. This is called pangrattato or pane grattugiato. In Italy there is a shortcut to preparing it, in the south, in the form of taralli which are dry baked biscuit rings (often flavoured with fennel seeds); in the north, various forms of grissini, biscuit-like sticks instantly