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# 62 • June 12 , 2015
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ITALIAN FLAVORS:
Altamura bread
By Consorzio per la Tutela del Pane di Altamura with MiPAAF
Horace, the great Latin poet of
the 1st century BC, while travelling to Brindisi, described
the bread of Altamura as “the
best by far” and so appetising
that “wise travellers carry a
load on their shoulders for later”: i.e. a bread for export. The
discovery of Pane di Altamura
by the Romans, accustomed
to stodgy, indigestible barley
bread, soon elevated it to the
status of “panis palatinus” on
the Emperor’s table.
In the Middle Ages, while
throughout Europe the common people were obliged by
famines, wars and primitive
agricultural techniques to eat
bread made from barley or
from acorns and clay, the people of Altamura ate the best
bread by far. It was a democratic bread, i.e. the same for
all, without distinction of class,
made exclusively from durum
wheat, the finest of all grains.
The local bread is portrayed
twice on the portal of Frederick II of Swabia’s cathedral.
Even on the pan els of the life of
Christ on the medieval portal
of the Great Church of Altamura, the bread of the pilgrim is
depicted in the journey of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem,
and the bread of the Last Supper on the Eucharistic table.
The product
The thick, golden and brown
crust of Pane di Altamura PDO
seems reminiscent of the land
that produces the good grain
from which it is made. The primordial elements of being are
needed to make Pane di Altamura PDO: earth, to provide
the best quality durum wheat; water, to knead the flour
into dough; air, to trigger the
fermentation processes of the
natural yeast; and fire, to bake
the bread.
What makes this product unique, however, is above all the
work and talent of the men
and women of Altamura, in selecting and mixing the grains,
milling them repeatedly to
obtain a special flour, skilfully
kneading the dough at length,
judging the right amounts of
salt, water, yeast and preparation time, and putting it into
the oven at just the right temperature and with the right
type of firewood, i.e. oak.
Each operation is twofold: the
grain is milled twice, the dough is kneaded twice, it is left
to rest and rise twice, the oven
is opened and closed twice
and it is eaten twice: when it is
fresh and tastes of biscuit on
the outside and panettone on
the inside; and when it is old
but not hard (it stays soft for
up to 10 days) and its flavour
is enhanced with a little olive
WE THE ITALIANS | 15
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