Mix water, melted lard, barley malt syrup, and yeast. Combine with flour and salt until no dry flour remains. Knead until smooth. Add diced meat and black pepper and knead until fully combined. Let prove until doubled in size, punch down, shape into a ring on a parchment lined baking sheet, and let prove until just less than doubled in size. Brush with extra virgin olive oil and bake at 450°F until browned, 30-40 minutes.
As a caveat for the following blurb: I'm not Italian, I'm just from New Jersey.
Lard bread is an Italian savory bread served at the holidays. The most popular version round these parts is that of Mazzola Bakery in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, which later expanded to my hometown of Manalapan, New Jersey. You'd expect something named primarily after rendered pork fat to taste good, and you'd be right; this stuff is dangerously addictive.
Personally, I don't keep a tub of lard in my house, for my arteries' sake, so I use leftover bacon fat for the fat source. Mazzola make theirs in a sub roll kind of shape, but making it into a ring gives it a more galette des rois, family gathering feel. They also add provolone cheese, which I've never tried, but I can't imagine adding cheese to anything could make it worse. Also, the barley malt syrup isn't strictly necessary, but it really adds to the New York bakery vibe.