Durum Italia of the mills Mininni and Capriati & Loiudice of Altamura organized, with the cooperation of IRC IRIDE of Tecnopolis CSATA Novus Ortus of Valenzano and IRC Ireland Enterprise Ireland, a workshop of bread making in the cities of Dublin and Cork, in Ireland.

The attention of the irish bakers towards the durum wheat re-milled semolina was born on occasion of their visit to Altamura- the city of the wheat, of the flour and of the bread- at the end of October 2000.

We showed them the tecnological and nutritional aspects of our "fine hard wheat semolina" and also the whole milling cycle of the wheat, from which this particular raw material for bread making is obtained.

On that occasion the irish bakers saw the productive cycle of the traditional bread making in old stone oven feeded with oak, where still now the working of bread is made in handicraft way, as it is provided by the Regulations of the production of the bread of Altamura, gazetted by italian Republic and now under examination of the european Paliamentary Committee for its final passage.

At the end of this administrative procedure, the well-known bread of Altamura, obtained using the best wheats of the Murgia highland in Puglia, will obtain the DOP- Denomination of Protected Origin-, according to the EU Rule 1081/92.

Thanks to both these varieties of durum wheat and the technique used for their milling, and the pedologycal and the climatic caracteristics of Murgia zone, the bread of Altamura will have a brand and such an exclusive certification, that is the DOP.

As recently written by an authoritative irish newspaper, the Irish Examiner, the workshop showed the uncommon versatility of using the durum wheat re-milled semolina in bread making.

Besides the bread of Altamura, it was obtained also "ciabatte", "baguette", " toast bread" and "focacce", these last seasoned with extra virgin olive-oil, made in Puglia.

The irish bakers appreciated the quality, the taste and the fragrance of the products and they were very enthusiastic for the productive yield of the re-milled semolina, used during the workshop.

With 30 kg. of raw material it was obtained in the bakery of Cork 100 "focacce" of 450 gr. and 9 kg. of bread.

According to the bakers of the "Panetteria di Altamura", who were in Ireland, the bread of durum wheat, kneaded with the water of the place, the famous irish water used for the production of wisky of great value, gave extraordinary qualitative results.

In an Europe without frontier, this is a very important result for the diffusion of particular products, made outside the place of origin.

We think that this is also a way to promote the culture of food and the mediterranean diet- of which the durum wheat with its "noble" by-products (durum wheat semolina and durum wheat re-milled semolina) are the fundamental raw materials- always looking for new and wider export-markets of the made in Italy.