📋Traditional Italian Cheese Bread - Crescia

This Italian cheese bread is a traditional delicacy from Marche and Umbria called Crescia di Pasqua, usually baked for the Easter breakfast or Monday picnic. It is a savory Easter bread with a soft, fluffy structure and packed with Pecorino and Parmesan cheese. Sometimes bacon or sausages are also added to the dough and it is eaten in slices with salami and boiled egg. Either way, it is good all year round!

Course Bread

Cuisine Italian

Keyword Cheese bread, Italian Easter Bread, Parmesan breadcrumbs

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 1

Resting time 1

Servings people

Calories 508kcal

Author Laura Tobin

Equipment

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

⅔ cup fresh water
2 tablespoon yeast
½ cup butter
1 cup olive oil
6 fresh eggs

Dry ingredients

4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch pepper

Cheese

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
½ cup pecorino

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Prepare the wet ingredients

Mix the yeast with the lukewarm water, put aside and let it rest
Melt the butter in the microwave 1 minute at medium heat or in a pan and let it cool down
Add the oil and the eggs to the butter and mix
Add the yeast, stir and set aside

Prepare the dry ingredients

Mix the flour with salt and pepper

Mix the wet and dry ingredients

With the mixer stir the wet and dry ingredients together making sure there are no lumps in the flour
Add the Parmesan, the Pecorino and stir
Cover the bowl with a cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes

Bake it

Cover the bottom of a baking pan with parchment paper, best if it is a pan with removable bottom. Butter the side of the pan
Pour the dough into the pan, cover with a cloth and let it rest for another 30 minutes
Bake in a hot oven at 320 F -160 C for 1 hour
Once done, let it rest for 10 minutes before removing it from the pan
Serve with prosciutto, salami and boiled eggs

Video

Notes

If you have a bread machine, you can pour the wet ingredients first and the dry ingredients last and set up the bread machine to make bread dough. Add the cheese only when the machine has finished the first kneading. It usually rings when it does.
Make sure the butter is not hot when you add the eggs and the yeast
You can use fresh yeast, dry yeast or sourdough yeast
You can replace the parmesan and pecorino cheese with other cheese based on your taste. Although best not to add creamy cheese as they will change the consistency of the dough
The top of the bread tends to burn easily because of the cheese, keep the oven temperature at 320 F -160 C
If you prefer a higher bread shape you can use a 7 in - 18 cm baking pan
It is best to eat the same day, but if covered with cling wrap it will last for 3 days

Nutrition