Reviving A Lost Family Recipe: Italian Easter Bread (La Pigna)
Hi All,
First time poster, but I've found this site to be incredibly helpful!
I'm having issues with a lost recipe I have for my Great-Grandmother's Italian Easter Bread. I'm trying to revive it but it always comes out much too dense and dry. The top always looks slightly sunken in as well. The bread is called "La Pigna" (pronounced peen-ya). It's from the Ciociaria region of Southern Lazio (South of Rome, North of Naples). La Pigna seems to be in many ways very similar to Panettone as well as a Neopolitan Easter bread called Casatiello Dolce. It's very difficult to find any info on La Pigna in Italian, let alone English.
Below is the recipe I have. Based on this list, can you find the issue? I have a feeling it has something to do with the yeast. Perhaps pre-fermenting it all at once is the issue? Or the kind of yeast I'm using? The recipe calls for Active Dry Yeast but a lot of the old recipes call for sourdough. Or a lot of the other recipes call for making a Biga the night before and adding more yeast the next day. I would think this would help the dough rise for a couple days since its such a rich dough with 3 or 4 eggs and a whole stick of butter. Perhaps switching to Instant Yeast would help? Maybe more yeast? Less flour and fat?
Thanks in advance!
2.5 cups flour | 300g |
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.5 cup scalded milk | 118ml | 113.5g | |
1 pkg active dry yeast | 7g |
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1-2 tsp anise seeds |
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Shake cinnamon |
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1.5oz Anise extract | 113g | 1.5 fl oz |
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3 eggs and 1 yolk |
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.5 cups softened butter | 113g | 1 stick |
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Shot white wine | 44.36ml | 1.5 fl oz | |
.5 cups sugar | 99g |
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1 lemon zest |
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White icing |
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1. Proof Yeast: Scald milk. Cool to 100-110 degrees. Mix with yeast and a little sugar until they dissolve
2. Mix softened butter together with zest, anise extract, cinnamon, wine, and anise seeds
3. Add eggs
4. Add flour and sugar
5. Combine yeast mixture with flour mixture
6. Let rise for 3 hours then refrigerate overnight.
7. The next morning pour dough into a bundt pan
8. Let rise until it touches the top of the pan
9. Bake at 350 degrees 45 minutes to an hour
10. Remove from pan, let cool, and decorate with royal white icing and colored sprinkles
Thanks for the recipe! I will have to make it myself!
As for your troubles:
Well, if you are adding your yeast to hot milk, that would kill the yeast. Sorry if you already know that, but it doesn't say in the recipe to let it cool down.
Your yeast variety is probably not the issue. I don't know where the 3 day fermentation comes from, that is long! And not in the recipe.
edit: Oh, and by the way, if you let it rise overnight like it suggests, you will very likely get overfermented dough unless you are doing a cold ferment.
I would replace that instruction with "rise for 3 hours at room temperature then put in a fridge or cold room overnight."
This is all I can see.
Good luck!
Thanks I incorporated your edits and I'll give a refrigerated rise a try! As for the 3 days rising, that's my mistake. Traditionally, the recipe calls for 3 days to rise, which is a rough interpretation. One day for the biga, one day for the first rise, and another day for the second rise. I wonder if my great grandmother or great aunt changed the recipe a little to make it more simple. In any case, the 3 days rising is supposed to represent the 3 days it took Jesus to rise from the dead (it is Easter bread after all). In my case, its just two days.
I love reviving family recipes but I have found they can be tricky. So a few questions, first.
Have you ever eaten this bread? It gives you a sample goal, at least.
What era does this recipe come from? 1900-1920's?-1930's- Later?
Was the recipe in cups or grams? Or was it estimated ( i.e. "2 1/2 generous teacups")
Did you use a conversion chart to derive the grams from cups? Like this .
Can you give us the closest translation to the original recipe?
Knowing this might help get as close as possible to the original recipe.
As for how to tweak your version of the original recipe for an acceptable product:
Scald (and cool) the milk, as already pointed out.
Add more liquid-I think this dough looks a bit dry?
Use osmotolerant yeast (a strain of yeast conditioned to highly enriched doughs) or increase the amount of yeast a bit. Osmotolerant yeast like this .
Let rise to double-it may not be overnight unless it is kept cool.
Is this enough dough to fill the bundt pan at least halfway?
Nothing is said about kneading. Is it kneaded at all?
Alternatively, you could make a biga from the flour,water and a pinch of yeast. Hold overnight in a cool place (40-70F). Then add the 7 g yeast the next day with the other ingredients.
Great reply, Clazar!
Dan
This recipe METHOD is probably close to what you want to do and rings true with how older recipes were accomplished (make a well in the dry flour and make a dough by hand, then add enrichments). It gives the gluten and starch time to form. You may still need to adjust the liquid in your recipe if it seems dry.
This recipe is similar to yours but not as rich.
Thank you so much for your replies I am so thankful!
Clazar - I have never eaten the bread as made by my Great Aunt or Great Grandmother. My mother and other family members have and they say the consistency is similar to Panettone. It is not like a braided loaf of Challah like more common Italian easter bread.
This recipe was brought with my Great Grandmother from her mother in Italy. They emigrated in the 1920's. I have a suspicion that it was changed and modified though since it calls for Active Dry Yeast instead of Sour Dough starter like so many other more traditional recipes call for.
The recipe I gave was estimated. Traditionally you made three of these. Most of the recipes online you'll find in Italian have you baking 3 at a time using a kilo of flour. I scaled this recipe back to make only one loaf. The conversions to grams and ml were done by using King Arthur Flour Blog's conversions.
I'll link a few recipes and a video, most of these will be more traditional than the one in English. Keep in mind, though, that every village and household had different variations of this recipe (some used fat or oil instead of butter, more or less eggs, etc...). Google translate is great tool to use on these foreign websites as well.
My recipe calls for no kneading, though most recipes call for kneading for 5 to 15 minutes. Perhaps I'll try that well.
It does fill the pan half way.
I'll make sure to try your suggestions as well.
Traditional Recipe Videos:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7i8gg
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7inww
Traditional Recipe:
https://www.scattidigusto.it/2016/03/26/casatiello-napoletano-dolce-ricetta-migliore/
https://forum-ricette.cookaround.com/threads/162193-Pigna-di-Pasqua
In English close to my recipe:
https://jalyns.ca/blog/?p=1340
I apologize as i can't get google translate to run for me right now.
Hi All,
I figured I'd run with the idea of hydration is the issue so I ran some numbers comparing my recipes hydration level to Jim Lahey's Panettone Recipe. As it turns out, hydration is not the issue I think. Based on my calculation Lahey's hydration is about 75%. Mine is over 80%!. So I don't think it's that. I came across the below post online I think the fat content is culprit. So my question is, how do I counteract the issues with gluten with this much fat in the bread if I wanted to keep the fat content consistent?
https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/45160/fatty-liquid-vs-non-fatty-liquid-in-dough
"The reason that your enriched bread handled completely different than your initial bread is because eggs, sugar, and oil all inhibit the formation of gluten. Sugar attracts water, so it competes with the proteins gliadin and glutenin in flour for binding to water (glutenin+water+gliadin= gluten) added to the mixture.
Egg Yolks contain a high percentage of fat and liquid oil by definition is 100% fat. Fat uses a different mechanism than sugar to inhibit gluten formation. Fats coat the individual gliadin and glutenin proteins. Because fats are hydrophobic (not attracted to water) they effectively shield the gliadin and glutenin from water, which inhibits gluten formation.
With this collective reduction in gluten, the bread becomes much denser because the carbon dioxide produced by the yeast doesn't have enough gluten to use for expansion of the bread. If all other ingredients and factors were the same between your initial and enriched bread recipes, but you increased the amounts of sugar and fat the result is a denser bread."
I think I may have answered my own question. Based on the below article it looks like a long intense knead is exactly what I need. This is consistent with the Panettone Recipe. The other solutions are also consistent with the more traditional recipes I posted above using a big and pre-ferments without a long knead.
https://foodal.com/knowledge/baking/enriched-bread-dough/
Sounds like I need to knead! Does this sound right?
Thanks
I watchd the videos-delightful! I don't speak Italian but I could get the gist of what the ingredients with the exception of 1-it was after the milk, orange juice and wine-was it vinegar? It looked clear and was in a nicely shaped bottle-almost like I have seen Holy Water put in.
2 things I noticed in the video and it is also noted in the recipe you linked to that was similar to yours.
1. The eggs and sugar are beaten until very light. This is a way to incorporate air into a batter to lighten the end product. Very important to do this!
2. The final dough (in the video) did not rise much-in the bowl or in the oven. It looked like the starter was very active and provided the fermentation flavor but not much rise.
If your dough is as liquid as in the video, there is no kneading-only mixing. Beat those eggs!
Just for clarification:
When you made your bread, did you measure your flour by volume or weight?
EDIT: The way you combat the fat coating the gluten/protein strands is to mix the flour and water first and add the fats last.
Sweet breads also can proof very quickly and the fats can "break" if the dough ever gets too warm during mixing or proofing, so it is best to keep this dough a bit cool. Don't allow to double.
I don't think your issue is about kneading. You don't need to knead this cake to make it. A few thoughts to share..
#1 The old school way to make this is with levain because it will allow for a long slow rise as your grandfather and those before him did. They didn't have commercial yeast 100 years ago in small Italian villages - so they'd use natural yeast. That lent itself to a long slow rise. Giving the recipe a shot of active dry yeast requires some modifications which is what your family did somewhere along the way.. many of them as they immigrated lost the habit of using mother yeasts / starters and went commercial for convenience.
#2 A long slow fermentation - especially three day - will require temperature control. Tonight in Rome, just before Easter weekend, it's 14 celcius / 58 ferinheight - that's cool. A hundred years ago they didn't have central heating or radiators in small towns, so the house was likely relatively cool. If not in the day time when the fire was stoked, it likely got cooler at night as they slept until they got up to get the fire going again. So if you're in a typical north american home, you're probably living at a very comfortable 70 plus degree temp and that's going to shorten your time window. The lady in the video said she left the dough for about 20/25 hours (not three days) given the type of house we see from the background looked pretty warm.
#3 With all that sugar the yeast is going to get drunk happy and lazy. So that's why to give it a boost she give it a blend of orange and lemon juice - to make the dough more acidic and give the yeast a power shot of 'acid' to get more active and deal with the overwhelming sugar comma it finds itself in - your recipe doesn't do that. The white wine was probably a bit acidic too. To that end, this is from something on the web I just found - I think it was king arthur's site:
Yeast likes an acidic environment. Although the fermentation process naturally creates an acidic environment, to make yeast even happier, increase the dough’s acidity a bit. You can do this by adding a pinch of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or by replacing some of the liquid with an acidic liquid (a tablespoon of orange juice, lemon juice or vinegar). This is especially helpful when you’re following a sweet bread recipe, one in which the yeast will be slowed down by a larger amount of sugar.
My suggestion to you is a) try to make this with a levain if you can; b) regardless reduce your fermentation time as you don't live in the old country and likley live in a well insulated house; c) consider adding a bit of orange juice; d) don't look for the second rise, once you've led the dough go through a 24 hour fermentation then bake a pan and see how it seems, you can always bake the other then or let it go for another day (but I doubt you will).
Best of luck and please post pictures!!
Thank you guys so so much for your advice. I’m going to work on it today and let you guys know how it goes.
If I where to use active dry yeast or instant yeast how would I adjust your suggestions and rise times?
Hi All,
A big thanks to all of you who offered your very kind advice. I wanted to follow up and show you the results and some ideas for the future.
I ended up baking two cakes. One was based on Sullivan Street Bakery's Panettone Recipe and the other was based on the traditional method my family had written down. The Panettone method is below. It rose beautifully despite two very long rises. One for 12 hours and the second for 7. Anyone know why the top of it rose so high and looks like a doughnut? Unfortunately, the crumb came out very dry. But it was not dense and was very light. The taste wasn't great either. The sambuca didn't add enough anise flavor. Next time I think I'll use anise extract. (By the way, the pastry board was also my Great-Grandmother's).
Now for the second loaf, I used the method the Nonna used in the videos I linked to above. This time, family members who had my Great-Grandmother's La Pigna said this was much closer. It had a flat top, and is supposed to be a little dense and dry. They used to put butter on it and dip it in coffee for Easter breakfast. Again, the crumb was dense and much too dry. I added orange juice but that didn't help any. Still needed more anise flavor. For this one I let it rise only once for about 16 hours. Part of it was out in the garage where it was about 55-60 degrees instead of inside where it was 70. My family also said the outside was too dark, it should be lighter. This loaf I did not knead at all. The panettone based loaf I kneaded on high in a kitchen aid for 15 minutes straight.
So some closing thoughts: I'm going to keep refining until I get the crumb to be not so darn dry. Any suggestions? It also needs more anise flavor. Also, the icing shouldn't be royal, it was more translucent according to my Mother and Aunt. It also occurred to me that this is more of a cake than bread. The recipe below is almost exactly the same as the ingredients I have. I'm going to try it this way next. Hopefully by next Easter I'll have this perfected! Eventually I'd love to use Biga and Levain once I get the basics down using active dry yeast and instant yeast.
https://food52.com/blog/14574-yeast-isn-t-just-for-bread-add-it-to-cakes-too
In case any of you wanted to check out what else was on the menu yesterday:
Pizza Gaina - Ricotta and meat pie
Torta di Pasqualina - Swiss Chard, Ricotta, and Egg Pie
And my personal favorite, my Mom's Ricotta Pie, made with lemon and orange zest and whisky (though traditionally I think it was originally made with rum)
Buona Pasqua!
My parents are (were) from Naples and every Easter they made casatiello and pastiera.
Yours sounds delicious. Food and memories go together like a horse and carriage.
Bee sting cake comes to mind after re-reading your original recipe. Not so much the flavouring or the filling, but that it's a yeasted sponge cake.
I realize this is more than a year old, but incase anyone else is in the same boat...try using jumbo eggs! We always had the exact same problem with our recipe (very similar, but with 4 eggs instead of 3 plus a yolk) and a couple of years ago we started raising ducks. I intended to use one less egg since the duck eggs are much larger, but forgot until it was in the oven. It came out EXACTLY the way my grandmothers used to. When I mentioned it to my mother, she remembered that my grandmother had always cooked with jumbo eggs instead of regular. We've made it with either duck eggs or an additional egg ever since, and it's made a huge difference.