Frattau Bread
Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Giuliano Bugialli's book Foods of Sicily & Sardinia. We've also added some helpful tips of our own, which appear at the bottom of the page.
To read more about Sardinian cuisine, click here.
• The versatile unleavened Sardinian flatbread pane carasau (carta da musica in Italian) is often used as a foundation for other dishes. In pane frattau, the normally crisp sheets are softened using broth, and transformed into a lasagna noodle of sorts, supporting layers of tomato sauce and pecorino cheese. • Thanks to Sardinia's robust sheep population, pecorino — a sharp cheese made from sheep's milk — has been an island staple for centuries, often in the form of fiore Sardo ("flower of Sardinia"). In 1996, Pecorino Sardo — a modern descendent of fiore Sardo — received a European DOP classification ("protected-origin product"), ensuring its quality and provenance. (The cheese even has its own official Web site, www.pecorinosardo.it, as does fiore Sardo, www.fioresardo.it.) Pecorino Sardo comes in two main varieties: fresh and ripened. The fresh version has a smooth white rind, a soft inner texture, and a mild flavor. Ripened (or "mature") Pecorino Sardo, used in this recipe, has a thicker, darker rind, a firm and grainy interior, and a sharp flavor.
