MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN: CARNAVAL! LARD PASTRIES TO CELEBRATE

Between the downpours of rain, Carnaval is in full swing! Folks are in the streets with zany costumes, bawdy songs, drum banging, and cavorting. It’s a week-long crazy-fest that starts on jueves lardero, or “fatty Thursday,” the last Thursday before Lent begins (this coming Wednesday). Cádiz and the Canary Islands stage the most famous Carnavales in Spain, but they are marked with appropriate frivolities in every part of the country.

Carnaval is also an occasion for gluttony before the abstinence of Lent. Many kinds of sweets, especially sugared fritters, are typical (see a list at the end of this post). Lent marks the end of the hog-slaughtering season, so everything porky—especially sausage—is consumed with gusto.

I just happened to have a pound of lard in the freezer, so I’m making tortas de manteca, yeast pastries with lard, that are typical of La Mancha.

Lard pastries are crisp when freshly baked with a soft interior crumb.

The pastry disks are not sweet but are liberally sprinkled with sugar.

Crispy Lard Pastries, La Mancha Style

Tortas de Manteca Manchega

Yeast. If you are using active dry yeast packaged in small envelopes, you will need approximately one envelope plus ½ teaspoon of a second envelope to make 3 teaspoons called for in the recipe.

Lard. Use non-hydrogenated, white leaf lard, sometimes called “baker’s lard.” If you can get fresh lard from a butcher, chop it finely, heat it until melted and strain it.

The pastries are perfect with breakfast coffee.

Bread flour is best for these pastries, but all-purpose flour could be used instead. The dough can be prepared in a mixer with a bread hook.

The crispy cookies are not sweet. They contain only a spoonful of sugar to activate the yeast. Sprinkle them generously with sugar before baking. If you prefer a savory cracker, sprinkle with coarse salt, pepper, and sesame seeds instead of sugar. If you happen to have chicharrones, pork-skin cracklings, sprinkle them on top of the disks.

When freshly baked these pastries have a slightly crispy exterior and a soft crumb. Heat them on a grill pan or sandwich grill to restore crispness. They freeze well.

Serve the tortas for breakfast or snack time with coffee or tea. The savory version goes nicely with cheese or salchichón.

Lard for baking.

Makes 8 (6-inch) pastries.

1 cup very warm water

1 teaspoon sugar + additional for baking

3 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 ¾ + ¼ cups bread flour

½ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon aniseed (optional)

1 cup leaf lard, softened

Combine the water, 1 teaspoon of sugar and yeast in a small bowl. Allow to stand 5 minutes until the yeast begins to bubble.

Place 2 cups of the flour in a large bowl Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast water. Mix with a wooden spoon to combine the flour with the water. Cover the bowl and let stand until the mixture is spongy and bubbly, 30 minutes.

Use a wooden spoon or hands to mix in the remaining 1 ¾ cups flour, the salt and aniseed, if using. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead it 5 minutes or more. It will be stiff and very dry, but gradually become more malleable. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with a cloth or bowl and let it rest 30 minutes.

Spread lard on dough.

Pat the dough out into a circle. Spread 2 tablespoons of the lard on it. Fold the dough over on itself and knead the lard into the dough. Sprinkle a little of the reserved ¼ cup of flour on the work surface. Pat the dough out and again spread lard on it. Knead the lard into the dough. Continue until all the lard and flour are used. Stretch the dough and gather it into a compact ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and set in a warm, draft-free place to rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Pat dough into disks.

Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and press it down. Divide into 8 equal-sized pieces and roll them into balls. Pat one of the balls into a disk. Fold the top edge into the center, the bottom edge to the center, the sides to the center and gather into a ball. Pat the ball into a disk and place it on the baking sheet. Use fingers to stretch the dough into a circle or oval approximately 6 inches in diameter. Press the dough firmly with the fingertips to make indentations.

Sprinkle with sugar.

When all the balls of dough have been shaped, sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons sugar on each. Cover the sheets with plastic film or kitchen towels and let them set 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400ºF. Place sheets on oven racks and lower oven temperature to 375ºF. Bake 10 minutes. Change position of the baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are golden on top, 15 to 20 minutes longer.

Cool the pastries on racks.