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Altamura bread: an excellent bread
made from fine hard wheat semolina
Altamura bread- that is about to obtain the DOP -Denomination
of Protected Origin from the European Community, according to the
CEE Rule 2081/92- is made exclusively from the "fine hard
wheat semolina" obtained by mixing the varieties of hard
wheat cultivated on the highland of the north-central Murgia and
on the Matera hills, that consitute the most extensive and important
areas of wheat production of Puglia and of Basilicata.
And it is just because of the special raw material used, the "fine
hard wheat semolina", produced in incomparable manner by the
mills of the Durum Italia, that the "Altamura
bread" will obtain, first bread in Europe, not only an IGP-
Geographical Protected Identification, but also the DOP, the European
more exclusive certification for the quality. Full of history and
of tradition, the "Altamura bread" is good, as already
stated, because of the raw material used (plus water, marine
salt and yeast) and because of a method of traditional processing,
articulated in five stages:1. Dough; 2. Forming; 3. Yeast; 4. Shaping;
5. Cooking in the oven fed with firewood or with other source of
energy. The "Altamura bread" nowadays is in the middle
of an intense industrial production, that is the answer to the demands
and to the taste of the market but, at the same time, it still keeps
a strong continuity with the tradition, keeping the original identity
of forms and criterions of processing in a context however characterised
by processes of technological modernisation and by a more improved
automation. One of the best characteristics that the Altamura bread
together with the taste and the digestibility has, is the long shelf
life (the bread keeps the good taste for two/three days from the
date of production). The Altamura bread in his traditional low shape
(a cappidde de prevete) shows on the outside a pleasant crust
of brown colour, and in the inside a soft part of yellow flaxen
colour.
Deepening:
History
Traditional working progress
Traditional shapes
DOP denomination
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