Biscotti della Salute or Mattei Toasted Pan Brioche Slices

“Be cheerful then, for with these biscuits you will never die, or you will live as long as Methuselah. In fact, I myself, who eat them often, if some inquisitive person, seeing me sprightly beyond what my venerable age would suggest, asks how old I am, I reply that I am as old as Methuselah, son of Enoch.”

So writes Pellegrino Artusi in Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well, speaking of the Biscotti della Salute (recipe no. 573).

In our own story
Mattei’s Pan Brioche has always been linked to this tradition: Filone della Salute was the name of the loaf, and Biscotti della Salute were the slices obtained from cutting the fresh filone, then toasted. Our “della salute” recipe is very similar to Artusi’s and, like his, has nineteenth-century origins. Yet, on closer look, it also relates closely to recipe no. 575, Pan Brioche, which the author mentions shortly afterwards.

Until the 1940s, when Mattei still produced bread, sourdough starter was also used for our Pan Brioche. From the 1960s onward, baker’s yeast has been used instead, but the method of making Pan Brioche has remained unchanged - and it is the very same process we still follow today.

Below are the main steps:
A first dough is prepared with flour, eggs, butter, sugar, baker’s yeast, and salt, then left to rise. The following morning, the dough is worked again and shaped into loaves or brioches. After a second proofing, the products are brushed to achieve a golden finish just before baking. Once out of the oven, the brioches - plain, sugar-coated, or with chocolate chips - make their way to the shop, ready to be displayed in the window.

The loaves, on the other hand, after a brief cooling period, are sliced and arranged on baking trays to dry. The following day, the slices are toasted at a low temperature for about half an hour, then left to cool before being packaged and sealed.

The slices during processing.

The main difference compared to Artusi’s recipe lies in the amount of butter used and, above all, in the dough’s double fermentation, which makes our product especially crisp, delicate, and wonderfully fragrant.

Toasted Pan Brioche Slices.
We bake them fresh every day, and you can also find them loose, by weight.
Haven’t tried them yet?

What are you waiting for? We look forward to welcoming you in our shops - perhaps at tea time.

Letizia Pandolfini