Big, lush, with a crispy brown crust, inside has a yellowish color and good flavored – it is all about the famous Italian bread from Altamura D.O.P. — pane di Altamura DOP — a jewel of the city and of the entire region of Puglia.
Altamura is a city north of Bari, not far from Matera with a population of 70 thousand people, located on the Murge plateau, which lies within Puglia and corresponds with the sub-region known as Murgia or Le Murge. Altamura has been called the City of Bread for several centuries, because of about 90 bakeries working for 70 thousand inhabitants, which process tons of special flour daily to produce bread not only for the region, but for the whole Italy.
The mail cathedral of Altamura dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built by will of emperor Frederick II
So what is Altamura bread?
This is a 1 kg loaf on average with a very ancient origins. The tradition of creating this bread finds its first mention in 37 BC in the works of Roman poet Horace. During his journey to the area now called Puglia, the poet discovered “the best bread in the world.”
Pane di Altamura till today preserves its qualities and characteristics that were important in the old times — thanks to the large crust and less moisture the bread could be stored for days.
This was a very important aspect for who settled the Alta Murgia subregion, because most of people were engaged in agriculture, grazing animals and transhumance (a seasonal movement of livestock practiced in Southern regions of Italy), so they had to leave homes for a long period of time. Also, bread conservation was important for those who worked in the fields to feed themselves with simple ingredients: some bread, salt, a piece of cheese, if any, and olive oil.
The typical form of Altamura bread
The Altamura bread is classified as “Denominazione di Origine Protetta”, i.e. Protected Designation of Origin since 2003. The originality and secrets of the bread are guaranteed and protected by the Altamura Bread Consortium. In Italy, probably, each product is protected by presidiums of Slow Food and similar organizations. Indeed, the future generations should know what Italy is proud of and should know what they’ll have to continue to safe as the Italian gastro heritage.
This is what the Pane di Altamura certificate looks like. Let’s say it is like a bread’s passport. It contains basic characteristics that the bread must have in order to meet the quality mark:
- The loaf should weigh no less than 0.5 kg and have a typical shape
- The crust should be at least 3 mm
- The crumb should be light yellow
- Humidity should be not less than 33%.
To be the same one bread, every loaf should be produced from the strong white flour (semola) and not from any wheat but from that one which was grown on the north-west part of Murge plateau.
The dough kneading has to be done according to an ancient tradition: per each 100 kg of flour goes 20 kg of sourdough, 2 kg of sea salt and 60 liters of 18 degrees water. The bread is baked at 250 degrees Celsius in a wood-fired oven and ideally on the oak logs.
A modern bakery shop in Altamura
An interesting fact. In the days of old it was forbidden to bake the bread at home. The housewifes had to knead the dough and bring it to public ovens to bake, leaving the initials or some family signature on loafs in order to recognize it after baking. Also my husband’s 93-years-old grandmother Aurelia did like this till 80-s of the XX century.
It was forbidden to bake bread at home
Such order existed not only in Altamura, but in the whole Puglia since the XIVth century – the first regulations dates from 1333. In the days of old bread baking was strictly controlled and taxed: per every “tumolo” of wheat (an ancient local measure = 15,86kg) turned to bread, every citizen had to give to the oven a third of the wheat as a tax. And in 1527 the authorities created a complete body of rules consisting of 7 articles, which regulated taxes for bread baking in money of those times – grano and cavalli.
Focaccia barese with tomatoes and sweet pepper
The particular fact was that the bread for dogs which were the guardians in masserias and farms or were used for hunting, was free of charge. But the bakers had to make a severe control in order to prevent the “the bread for dogs” was on the tables of people :)
From the Middle Ages to the 80s of the XX century throughout Puglia, and especially in Altamura, bakers had a precise daily routine. Each morning, the voices of the boys, bakers’ assistants, who collected all the orders for the future day, were heard in the neighborhoods of the town.
When all the orders were collected, they returned to bakeries and reported orders to a chief bakers. In the meantime, younger bakers prepared baking chambers: they cleaned coals after the previous day; prepared new firewood, brought the stove to a proper temperature.
While the wood burned out, the younger bakers did not stay without work. They sorted through the logs, distributed the loaves of bread received along the shelves of bakery.
Usually, together with bread people used to bring different types of focaccia and sweets for baking. Those smaller bakery were placed in a kind of “open” oven immediately after the distribution of logs. Such small pastries made it possible to check the temperature of the oven. So, if the focaccia was cooked too fast, the baker had to wait a little longer before putting the bread into the oven.
After the small pastries were ready, the chief baker set to form the loaves that required skills and experience. Not everyone was involved in this, since a special technique was needed.
The most important in the form of Altamura bread was the cut, made to assure that the preparation of large loaves of 4-5 kg was uniform, that the dough was better suited before the surface exposed to heat began to turn into a crust.
The baker is preparing a typical bread form
Further, the task of the chief baker was to mark each loaf with the initials of the head of the family or with a particular sign, if any, of the family. If not, he just put cross-cuts and and spread the bread to be baked for an hour or two, depending on size.
The service charge consisted of a fixed amount for a loaf of baked bread, regardless of its weight. Therefore, some residents made loaves of very large size, i.e. 8 kg each instead of the usual 4-5 kg to save money by paying for a smaller number of loaves.
And imagine, our grandmother said that they used to bake bread once a week for the whole family. For this purpose they used around 50 kg of flour. Imagine how many loaves came out! For the whole family for 7-8 days. But in the 50-80-s they paid simply for the cost of baking, without any rules and taxes. And even my mother-in-law also used to bring the dough for baking in the oven around the corner just 20 years ago. This is more comfortable actually. Firstly, not everyone has a wooden oven, and secondly, who will use the oven, for example, in the summer during a day heat.
Where to buy typical bread in Altamura?
There are a lot of shops around the city, but since you have come to see an ancient city, you need to visit to the oldest oven. For example, the Forno Antico Santa Chiara, Via Luca Martucci, 10 – the ancient Santa Chiara bakery, which was open for public with its bread sale in 1423, but the oven itself appeared in 1380. Just imagine, the size of the oven here is 50 square meters, 8 m is the width of the oven! And here you can buy not only the famous bread, but also chose a tasty piece from a variety of traditional focaccias, flour and other types of bread. We took both bread and focaccia for testing. The last one was very very tasty!
Барийская фокачча с помидорами и сладким перцем
Then we went to visit panificio del Duomo, Via Nicola Melodia, 10/12 – the bakery near the main Altamura Cathedral.
Also, don’t miss the Museum of Altamura bread, where you’ll see the peculiarities of bread preparation, will here the story, which types of flour are used to make bread, etc.
To order a guided tour in Altamura or Matera please contact us via email: [email protected]
Now you know what to look for when you are in Apulian bakeries and supermarkets or why it is worthy to visit the city of Altamura. By the way, you can drop into Altamura on the way to or from Matera. The cities are located nearby and, by the way, both are famous for their bread.
How to spend a day in Matera and how to get to there, you can read here: Matera the Capital of Culture 2019: why to go and how to get there
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