Il Pane Casareccio

The fragrant aroma of warm home made bread certainly stirs up in each of us special memories, but above all recalls all mankind history in the last millennia of evolution. The typical home made bread tradition has not gone lost here in many of the villages of South Pontino and Ciociaria. The ancient weekly rite of home made bread baked in wood fire ovens continues. The home made rustic bread from Maranola, Esperia, Lenola, Pico, Campodimele and Spigno Saturnia can be bought in the small ever-present and well-stoked ‘salumerie’ (deli-groceries).

      The home-made bread

Sometimes, in a lucky day travellers and local alike can find in Spigno Saturnia local salumerie Spigno’s special bread with olives. Soon after the Second World War the valley and highlands of the Aurunci Mountains like Campello, Polleca, Gegne and Sant’Onofrio were all used to produce a very traditional and rustic variety of wheat that can still be found today. The type of whole wheat flour produced by this variety was the main element for making the local home made bread. The local authorities have recently started to promoting and supporting the production of those autochthones varieties of wheat and cereals like the cicerchia for example.

The local rustic home made bread baked in the local villages and towns in the South Pontino, especially within the Aurunci Mountains area presents few peculiar characteristics which makes it special and distinguish it from the ordinary bakery bread production: the whole grain flour, a natural yeast called ‘criscito’ which is gained daily from the previous bread-making and the firewood oven which gives the bread a special aroma. The firewood oven is essential also because the clay bricks release slowly the heat allowing the bread’s gradual baking with a much better and balanced cooking of the inside through the external crust. Among the most known local version of rustic bread there are the Esperia and Spigno saturnia versions with local black olives mixed into the dough.

A small quantity of dough is always put apart; this is then mixed and dissolved in warm water mixed with flour and left all night long to ferment to produce the special yeast, the ‘crisicito’. The next morning the ‘criscito’ is ready to be mixed by expert hands with water, salt and flour until a soft, non-sticky dough is obtained. The dough is then covered with a cotton sheet and left to ‘grow’ for one hour. Again a small piece of dough is left aside for the following day. At this point the loaves of bread are worked out and put in wood boxes to rise again for the second time and then ready to be baked slowly allowing a homogeneous cooking of the bread with its typical crunchy, outside golden crust.

The local home made bread rustic bread produced in this way is still found in the small salumeria (deli) or also in several restaurants where owners still make an effort to provide a traditional bread to their customers. Once tried the taste of this bread it is easy to distinguish it from the one produced in ordinary bakery and much more difficult to return to appreciate the bread from standardised production. Home made bread lasts much longer than ordinary bread which next day is already hard and dry. The home made rustic version can be eaten still after a week or more from the day is produced. It does not loose its taste and does not get much drier. The secret to keep it longer is to wrap the loaf in a cotton sheet as soon as gets out of the oven. In this way the cotton keeps the humidity maintaining the bread softer for much longer. One of the most common non-written rule of Italians at the table is the famous ‘scarpetta’ (means little shoe) which is the habit of ‘cleaning’ the plate from tasty sauces with a slice of this flavoursome bread. What a delight for the palate!