Bread is an important element in a diet that includes all the nutritional principles and then it is delicious, especially when it is fresh and just baked. Apulian bread brings with it all the goodness of simple and genuine flavors that have made our Italian cuisine famous throughout the world. A few ingredients expertly mixed in a succession of ancient gestures that guard all the secrets of this timeless preparation.
In Puglia, Altamura bread is an unmissable product on the table. Crunchy, and at the same time soft. Crispy crust with an unmistakable hazelnut color and impeccable alveolation that makes the inside soft; a perfect contrast that determines its particularity.
Originally it was kneaded by women in their homes, and taken to bake in public ovens. A real choral ritual was created, in which public and private life intersected at the scent of bread. To prevent the loaves from getting mixed up, the baker would mark them with the initials of the owner or head of the family, printed on an iron stamp. Only then would he put them in the oven. A main characteristic of bread, still appreciated today, was its durability, essential to ensure the sustenance of farmers and shepherds during the weeks they spent away from home, working in the fields or in the pastures, on the Murgia hills. Even today, bakers follow the ancient recipe handed down from generation to generation by farmers and shepherds, since the Middle Ages. At the beginning of the 17th century, there were 26 fully operational ovens.
The first reference to the place of origin of the product can be found in book I, V of the “Satires” by the Latin poet Horace, who in the spring of 37 BC, while revisiting the landscape of his childhood, noted the existence of the “best bread in the world“, so much so that the diligent traveler takes a supply with him for the rest of his journey”. Another document dates back to 1420, which states the penalty for those who did not pay the bread tax for the clergy of Altamura. The traditional baking activity of Altamura is confirmed in “Gli Statuti Municipali della Città” written in 1527, whose articles relating to the oven tax were transcribed, edited by G. De Gemmis, in the Bollettino dell’Archivio-Biblioteca-Museo Civico, in the year 1954 (pages 5-49).
Today the quality of Altamura D.O.P. Bread is guaranteed by the Consortium for the Protection, invested with the functions of control, promotion and valorization of the DOP, as well as surveillance against any form of counterfeiting. By monitoring all the production phases, starting from the origin of the raw material, the Consortium guarantees the consumer the traceability of the product. It brings together farmers, millers and bakers.
The ingredients have remained unchanged over the centuries – durum wheat flour, sourdough, salt and water – as has the manufacturing process, divided into five phases: kneading, shaping, leavening, modelling, baking in a wood-fired oven. Altamura bread is perfect enjoyed on its own, with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or with red cherry tomatoes and oregano. It is also perfect to accompany soups or fresh dairy products such as mozzarella.
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