Torta

Torta: An Old-World Sweet Anise Bread

This torta is a rich holiday yeast bread with deep roots across Italian, Spanish, and Filipino baking traditions. Twelve egg yolks make the crumb impossibly golden and tender, while anise seeds and anise extract provide that unmistakable licorice-adjacent perfume that marks these celebration breads from Sicily to the Philippines. A finishing brush of melted butter, grated cheese, and a dusting of sugar turns each small loaf into something between bread, cake, and pastry.

The yeast does the lifting here, but the butter and egg yolks are what keep the crumb rich and luxurious. Twelve yolks sounds like a lot; it’s exactly right. This is the kind of bread where you save the whites for a meringue or angel food cake later in the week.

Anise is the defining flavor. Skip the anise and you have a nice yolky brioche; add it and you have a true Old-World torta. Use both seeds and extract for maximum perfume. The seeds deliver subtle pops of flavor while the extract permeates the whole crumb.

The salt-sweet cheese and sugar crust is the signature. It reads unusual on paper and revelatory in the mouth, much like the salted-sweet bread crusts of Eastern Europe or the cheese-topped sweet breads of Latin America.

Pro Tips

• Use freshly grated hard cheese (Parmesan, Pecorino, or aged Asiago) for the topping; pre-grated cheese is too dry and won’t melt properly into the crust.
• Proof the yeast until it’s clearly foamy before mixing; dead yeast means a dense, disappointing torta.
• Let the shaped dough double in bulk before baking; under-proofed dough bakes up tight and heavy.
• Line mold pans carefully with parchment paper; these enriched doughs stick without it.

Variations

• Add grated orange or lemon zest to the dough for a citrus-scented version.
• Substitute fennel seeds for anise seeds for a different licorice spin.
• Stir ½ cup of golden raisins or chopped candied orange peel into the dough for a more traditional festive bread.