Crescia: It’s not for just Easter anymore

Since a very young age, I can remember eating Crescia at Easter time. It’s one of my earliest food memories. The aroma of this cheese bread with a good dose of black pepper would fill my Aunt Mary’s house.

 

My aunt, who is about to turn 90, made this every year. And I remember my father using this bread to make “scarpetta” with the leftover tomato sauce on his plate.

 

In recent years, I’ve been making Crescia  from a recipe in one of Mary Ann Esposito’s cookbooks, which also refers to this as an Easter tradition.

 

I always knew Crescia had its origins in the Marche region of Italy, where my grandfather was born and raised. Immigrants from Marche to the United States in the early part of the 20th century were vastly outnumbered by those from southern Italy and Sicily, but our hometown of Phillipsburg, NJ had a small-but-mighty group of Marchigiani.

 

Fast forward to last October, when my sister and I and our significant others traveled to Marche for a small family reunion. Like so many other Italian immigrants who left family behind, my grandfather and one of his brothers came to the USA while their brother Francesco stayed in Italy. (Their sister Giuseppina immigrated to South America). We have stayed in contact with the descendants of my grandfather’s brother Francesco, and in the nineties I had visited them in the tiny hilltop village, Scapezzano, where they still live, so I really looked forward to this new visit.

 

My second cousin Massimo Becci and his wife Maria welcomed us with open arms and big family dinners. Their three children traveled home from as far away as Denmark to meet up with us. To my surprise, during one of these dinners, Maria served us homemade Crescia with the meal (in October). I told her that I thought this was an Easter-only tradition and she said that in fact they serve Crescia year round for special meals. I realized I too could have this comforting bread year-round!

 

Maria was kind enough to give me her recipe (via Facebook – welcome to 2015!). She uses fresh yeast, which I found at Surfas in Culver City, CA, or you can substitute dry active yeast. I tried this recipe with both and the fresh yeast is really terrific!

 

Enjoy your Crescia!! Year-round!

This recipe makes two round loaves.

 

Ingredients and Directions (in metric and by weight – pull out your trusty scale):

• 1 kg flour

• 10 large eggs or 8 jumbo eggs

• 1 glass (1 cup) olive oil

• 300 g grated Parmesan cheese

• 100 g grated Pecorino Romano

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 35 grams fresh yeast dissolved in a little milk — or — 2 @7g packets of instant yeast (I used Yeast Levure)

• 300 g baby Swiss cheese cut into cubes

 

• Stand mixer with a paddle attachment

• Two 9-inch bread/cake tins (you could substitute loaf pan or just cook as a round on a sheet pan)

• Wire cooling rack

• Let all the ingredients come to room temperature

• Gently beat the eggs and add to the stand mixer bowl.

• Except for the cubed cheese, add the remaining ingredients.

• Mix with the paddle attachment until the dough comes together in a wet mass. If the dough is too dry, add an additional egg.

• Turn the dough out into an oiled bowl and bring together the remaining bits of dough. Add in the cubed cheese and work it evenly into the dough.

• Divide the dough and place in the bread tins. Cover with a cloth and place in a warm area to rise for about 1 hour (I turn my oven on and place on the cook top).

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees and then bake the bread until golden brown on top, about 30 minutes.

• Remove to a wire rack to cool.

• Serve in wedges with a little butter or just as is!