Altamura bread

Deepening:

History
Traditional working progress
Traditional shapes
DOP denomination

History

The origin of "Pane di Altamura" is linked to the peasant-farmer tradition of the area of production.

A staple of the inhabitants’ diet in the uplands of the Murgia region, the bread was traditionally presented in large loaves ( U sckuanète or folded loaf); the dough was mainly mixed and kneaded within the home before being prepared for the oven and baked in public ovens, with the attendant social and cultural implications arising from this link between the private and public spheres.

The baker marked the initials of the head of the family on the loaves with a wooden or iron stamp before putting them in the oven.

The main characteristic of the bread, which still applies today, was its long lasting quality, a necessary criterion for food to sustain peasants and shepherds during the week or, more often, the fortnight they spent in isolated farms scattered through the uplands of the Murgia region.

Their diet consisted almost wholly of bread seasoned with salt and oil and dipped in boiling water.

Until the middle of the last century the streets of Altamura resounded at first light with the baker's cry, telling the inhabitants that the fragrant bread had come out of the oven.

Although it concerns the Murgia region rather than Altamura, the first reference to the product’s place of origin is found in Book I, V of Horace’s Satires.

Visiting the countryside where he had spent his youth in the spring of 37 BC, the Roman poet spoke of the bread, "far the best bread to be had, so good thet the wise traveller takes a supply of it for his onward journey".

The traditional status of breadmaking in Altamura is confirmed in the city’s municipal statutes of 1527 (Statuti Municipali della città fatti nell’anno 1527) and the Bollettino dell’Archivio-Biblioteca-Museo-Civico (1954, pp. 5-49) gives the relevant articles on the "Dazio del forno" (oven duty), transcribed by G. De Gemmis.

"Le Carte di Altamura" (Codice Diplomatico Barese, 1935) contains documents relating to the levying of or exemption from duties, transcribed by A. Giannuzzi.

Another document dating back to 1420 exempted the clergy of Altamura from the duty on bread.

The custom of backing in public ovens derived from the prohibition on citizens "of any station or condition" ( di ogni stato o condizione) baking any type of bread or other baker’s wares in their own homes, under penalty of a fine, the charge being equal to one-third of the total cost of bread-making.

The typical loaves baked traditionally for peasants, shepherds and their families therefore developed in an agricultural and sheep-rearing society and they are still produced by Altamura’s bakers: they are large loaves produced from durum wheat flour, leavening, salt and water and involve a process in five stages: mixing and kneading the dough, giving it a form, leaving it to rise, shaping it and baking it in a wood-fired oven.

These characteristics set it apart from all other types of bread.

Milling also took place entirely in Altamura, where at least 26 milling works were in operation in the early 17^th century.

In conlusion, despite the changes and adaptations that taken place, the bread currently baked in Altamura in the Murgia region may be regarded as descending directly from the bread of those peasants and shepherds according to a breadmaking tradition that has continued unbroken since the Middle Ages.