The braided wreath is a festive bread that I consider a token of good luck.

Soft and tasty, this stuffed savoury braided semolina wreath was served for dinner with a side dish of grilled vegetables that I also prepared on Ghisanativa. Excellent and wholesome, each slice reveals the tasty filling of bacon and cheese. The stuffed wreath is ideal for a different kind of dinner, or as a mid-evening snack in the company of friends (if you can), but it can also be sliced and served with antipasti, pickled vegetables, and sweet and sour vegetables.

Ingredients for four people

• 500 g re-milled durum wheat semolina
• 250 g milk
• 25 g fresh brewer’s yeast (if you use dry yeast, calculate 7 g but activate it before using it by dissolving it in half a glass of water and a teaspoon of sugar; let it rest in a warm place for 15/20 minutes until you see the foam form. Then remove the corresponding amount of liquid from the milk if you use my suggestion).
• 1 egg
• 50 ml – approx. 35 g seed oil
• 15 g salt
• 150 g speck
• 150 g sweet provolone (make thin sticks)

Preparation methodology

Crumble the fresh yeast into the semolina and knead, adding all the other ingredients except the salt, which is added when the dough has taken on body. Shape the dough by hand until smooth.

Leave it to rest for 20 minutes and cover it.

Divide the dough into three parts of equal weight and make some loaves.

Crush each loaf with a rolling pin until you obtain strips.

Stuff the centre of each strip with the chopped speck and cheese sticks then close the dough tightly by pinching the free edges and put the closure underneath.

With the three pieces, make a braid, beat an egg and brush it on; leave to rise in a warm – about 28°C – and humid place for 90 minutes or at least until it doubles in volume.

You can leave your braid as it is, or you can close it in a circle to form a wreath.

Brush again with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like.

Bake at 180°C for about 30 minutes, then transfer the braid to a wire rack and leave to cool.

Braided semolina wreath_serving suggestion

This wreath is perfect for Easter: once you have made the braid you can put 3 or 4 eggs – raw and well washed – on top of the braid, let everything rise together, and then bake the wreath as described above.

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Michela Oppo

“Cooking teacher, Venetian by adoption, born and lived until the age of 18 in the city of La Spezia from a Sardinian father and a Ligurian mother, from La Spezia to be precise, with a little Piedmontese blood. I left pieces of my heart in Shanghai, Buenos Aires, and London. There are many reasons why I cook, to feed and to nourish myself of course, but I think I cook above all for love, for love of my loved ones and why not, to be loved in turn. I love the tango, the sea, books that make you dream, ceramics, fans, languages, and… cooking and baking of course!”

This recipe was prepared on