Pane carasau

A sheet breaks into light, irregular pieces for the table. Briefly moistened, that same bread becomes supple enough to layer with sauce. These two textures make it useful well beyond a basket of bread: keep some crisp for serving and soften only the pieces needed for the dish.

The dough is leavened and rolled thin. After the first bake, the bread is opened into two sheets; a second bake dries and crisps them. The plain bread is carasau. Guttiau is the seasoned preparation with olive oil and salt, warmed before serving.

Serve crisp pieces with pecorino or alongside vegetables and preserved foods. For pane frattau, briefly dip pieces in the liquid specified by your recipe, then layer them with tomato and grated pecorino and finish with a poached egg. Dip a few pieces at a time rather than soaking the whole stack: they should soften enough to arrange on the plate.

Look for plain pane carasau when a recipe calls for unseasoned sheets. Whole rounds, half-moons and wedges are all useful; choose the size that suits your storage and dish. Check the ingredients if you need to distinguish plain bread from oil-and-salt guttiau. Broken pieces are useful for layered preparations.

Keep the packet tightly closed in a dry place, away from steam. Handle the sheets gently and moisten them only when you are ready to assemble the dish. Follow the package’s storage instructions.