Pane Carasau

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Pane Carasau is a thin, crisp flat bread seasoned with salt and rosemary, made in Sardinia, Italy,

It can be used as an ingredient in other dishes such as "pane frattau", or it can be used as a wrap around food such as cheese, meat, etc. It is usually moistened with water first to make it pliable.

Making Pane Carasau actually starts with the preparation of the starter dough. Some starter dough from a previous batch is mixed with water and flour to end up with a dough the consistency of your ear lobe. The starter dough is then formed into a loaf shape, with a cross in the top, and allowed to rise overnight. The cross allows you to visually gauge the process of the fermentation.

The next day, the dough is mixed up from the starter dough (reserving enough to make another batch from), durum wheat flour, water and salt.

The dough is allowed to rise once, then rolled out thinly into large circles, and cooked in a very hot wood-fired oven. The dough puffs in about 20 seconds.

The circles are then taken out of oven quickly while they are still puffed and divided into two sheets by slicing them horizontally through the middle or just pulling the top layer off from the bottom.

They are then allowed to cool in a stack, cut sides down, with a weight on top them all so they won't curl. Then the circles are baked again briefly, about 20 seconds, being turned once, to crisp them.

A classical size is about 15 inches (40 cm) wide; smaller ones 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 cm) wide.

Pane Carasau are stored stacked up in piles.


Storage Hints for Pane Carasau

Pane Carasau stores well, up to a year.
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Also called:
Pane carta da musica, Pane Carasau (Italian)
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