Liceo Linguistico Socio Pedagogico Regina Margherita
Anagni, Lazio [ITALIA]

Bread in Lazio: e-mails from Anagni III D pupils (Ms Affinati's class) to Sélestat students.

Hello,
               
we have recived your letter some days ago. We want to write about the topic bread in Italy,too. We are four students and our names are: Eleonora, Chiara, Flavia and Sara; we come from two different towns: Fiuggi and Piglio, but the traditions about the way how bread is made are similar.

Making homemade bread is not difficult as it seems. Just having the right instructions and knowing how to choose the most suitable ingredients.
The yeast, first. The natural element used, usually by bakers. The powder for breads that helps the rising  during cooking. The yeast (cubes, or dry granules), the most commonly used for bread prepared at home.
Then, the flour. There are various types: the most commonly used is that of wheat, types "0", "strong", "text", etc..
The third essential ingredient is water, used to dissolve the yeast and bind the dough. This can be a leavening "direct" (the yeast is added together with the other ingredients) with the "lievitino" (the yeast is dissolved in a little 'water and some flour and other ingredients added only when doubled in volume) and the "biga" ( the first  mixture with the yeast and flour and water. The dough must rise until it has doubled in volume and is mixed with the rest of the ingredients ).

Even if the ingredients are the same, shapes can change in fact there are different types of bread as  "The Altamura bread" : the Altamura bread is a typical  bread from Puglia (South region of Italy) made from a mixture of wheat, very rich in gluten (up to 14%), a natural leavening and baked in the wood oven.

The Altamura bread is more expensive than the other types of bread. A lot of Italian regions  make it with particular ingredients and  this makes it taste different.

For example another type of bread is with oil and nuts; it has a  special tastel, sweet and bitter at the same time, very suitable to accompany cheese served with honey or mustards in various flavours.

In our towns there are a lot of baker's  where the bread is made and sold. Generally bakeries  are divided into three departments:
-in the first the bread is made by a baker;
-in the second the bread is baked in the wood oven;
-in the third the bread is ready to be sold on the counter.

In this picture the baker is cooking his bread in the wood oven.


These are our traditions….
                  
Eleonora, Chiara, Flavia and Sara.


Dear friends,

We are Francesca (from Fiuggi), Annamaria (from Gavignano), Adalberta (from Anagni), Federica and Elisa (from Colleferro).  Now we are going to talk  about food made with breadfrom Lazio and Italy.


Ciambellone.


This sweet is famous especially in our region: Lazio. It can be made with chocolate or nutella giving it  a very peculiar and appetizing colour beige and brown (like the photo). Sugar, butter, white flour, starch, eggs, yolk, yeast, cake granulated, milk and a touch of salt are the ingredients of this sweet, that is called in this way because its shape is like a big "ciambella"(ring-shape). In Italy we love eating it dunking it  in milk!


Pasta.

Pasta is an Italian food made from a dough using flour, water and/or eggs. The dough is shaped and can be stored. Pasta is boiled prior to consumption. There are many variations of shapes and ingredients that are all called pasta. A few examples include spaghetti, maccheroni (tubes or hollow cylinders), fusilli (swirls), and lasagna (sheets). The word comes from Italian pasta which shares its origins with "paste", meaning "dough", "pasta", or "pastry" as in "small cake". Since 1918 the English word "paste" is a synonym to the Italian pasta. There are many ingredients that can be used to make pasta dough. Italian pasta is traditionally cooked al dente (Italian: "to the teeth", meaning not too soft). Various types of fresh pasta include eggs (pasta all'uovo). Gnocchi are often listed among pasta dishes, although they are quite different in ingredients (mainly milled potatoes).


Crostata.


A crostata is an Italian baked dessert tart, and a form of pie. It is traditionally prepared by folding the edges of the dough over the top of the fruit filling, creating a more "rough" look, rather than a uniform, circular shape. The fruit jam can be anything from apple to mixed berry to peaches, but we can also put chocolate, nutella or ricotta instead of fruit jam. Ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, small paper bag of yeast, eggs, yolk and jam.


Pandoro.


Wheat flour, butter, eggs, sugar, skimmed milk powder, a touch of salt, Cocoa butter, natural yeast, milk, water and sugar sachet(vanilla powdered sugar, wheat starch, flavours)are the ingredients of the Pandoro. Pandoro, as well as its counterpart Panettone, is a traditional Italian sweet yeast bread, most popular in Italy around Christmas and New Year. Typically a Veronese product, Pandoro is traditionally shaped like a frustum with a 8 points-star section.It is often served dusted with vanilla scented icing sugar made to resemble the snowy peaks during Christmas.


Pizza.
 
Pizza (also occasionally called "pizza pie" in certain parts of the United States) is the name of an oven-baked, flat, usually round bread covered with tomato sauce and often mozzarella, with other toppings left optional. While originating as a part of Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many different parts of the world. A shop or restaurant where pizzas are made and sold is called a "pizzeria" (from Italian) Various toppings may be added, the most typically are: Margherita, Napoli, Quattro formaggi, Boscaiola, Primavera and Focaccia. In some pizza recipes the tomato sauce is omitted (termed "white pizza"). Pizza is normally eaten hot (typically at lunch or dinner), but is sometimes eaten as cold leftovers.

We hope you enjoy this test because it's about gastronomic Italian peculiarity, the most of are famous ad known in all the world..

Sincerely yours…

Francesca S, Annamaria C, Adalberta S, Federica L, Elisa B…;)


The " Pupa " and the " hare ".

The "pupa" .                     The "hare".

The " pupa " and the" hare " are  typical biscuits of Anagni;  they have been  replaced by today's Easter eggs. Nowadays only few families follow this tradition. The " pupa " was given as a present to the little girls, the " hare "to the little boys. These sweets were made with the same dough of the biscuits with milk, with light and nourishing ingredients, just for the children. The " pupa ", as the name suggests, had the shape of a doll : on its belly was put a boiled egg stopped by two  crossed plaits, some broad beans or some coffee beans to sketch the eyes ,the nose and the mouth.
The " hare " had the shape of a half-moon: at the top of it there was the head, at the bottom there was the tail and in the middle of the body there was, a boiled egg stopped by two plaits crossed and the eyes, the nose and the mouth were sketched with broad beans or with coffee beans.


A very special dessert for Christmas: the "panpepato".


A typical sweet in Anagni is the "panpepato". "Panpepato" is not only a dessert, it is more than the usual cake or the usual dessert. Let's see how it is prepared…. Firstly, the ingredients are: chocolate , hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, corn flour and honey. When you have all these ingredients you can start to prepare it. You have to take a pan (not very big) and  put  some honey with some chocolate; then, you have to heat them up until they liquify ; the chocolate  melts into the honey.  The hazelnuts,  walnuts , almonds and the pine nuts must be added with the corn  flour…Then, shake all! When the chocolate and the honey are ready the blending is poured  into a pan  with the other components and then it's necessary to shake everything up till it becomes a homogeneous hand set. Then you have to make all small loafs like this:
...
At  the end you have to put the loaves in the oven and  bake for a few  hours.


The "panettone".


Panettone (Milanese: panetton classical orthography, panetùn other orthography) is a typical bread of Milan, usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year around Italy, and one of the symbols of the city. Maltese nationals are also traditionally associated with this sweet bread.
It has a cupola shape which extends from a cylindrical base and is usually about 12-15 cm high for a 1 kg panettone. Octagonal bases are sometimes seen, as well as the frustum with star section shape more common to pandoro. It is made during a long process which involves the curing of the dough, which is acidic, similar to sourdough. The proofing process alone takes several days, giving the cake its distinctive fluffy characteristics. It contains candied orange, citron and lemon zest, as well as raisins, which are added dry and not soaked. Many other variations are available such as plain or with chocolate . It is served in slices, vertically cut, accompanied with sweet hot beverages or a sweet wine, such as Asti. In some regions of Italy, it is served with Crema di Mascarpone, a cream made from mascarpone cheese, eggs, and typically a sweet liqueur such as Amaretto; if mascarpone cheese is unavailable, zabaglione is sometimes used as a substitute to Crema di Mascarpone.


The "pandoro".


Pandoro, as well as its counterpart Panettone, is a traditional Italian sweet yeast bread, most popular in Italy around Christmas and New Year. Typically a Veronese product, Pandoro is traditionally shaped like a frustum with a 8 points-star section.
It is often served dusted with vanilla scented icing sugar made to resemble the snowy peaks during christmas.
Pandoro appeared in remote times, the product of the ancient art of breadmaking, as the name, Pan d'oro ("golden bread"), suggests. Throughout the Middle Ages, white bread was consumed solely by the rich, while the common people could only afford black bread and, often, not even that. Sweet breads were reserved for nobility. Breads enriched with eggs, butter and sugar or honey were served in the palaces and were known as "royal bread" or "golden bread".


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