L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano I sn't it true that the best pleasures in life are often also t h e s i m p l e s t ? A m o n g t h e m , I certainly count the fragrance a n d f l a v o r o f f r e s h l y baked bread. If you grew u p i n a h o u s e h o l d w e r e making bread at home was customary, then you know perfectly what I mean: the scent of it while it baked, warm, reassuring and deli- cious; that first crunch when you bit into it and, then, the soft, warm chewiness of its inside. It was so good, all you wanted to do was keep on eating it on its own. You c a n g e t a s i m i l a r f e e l i n g when passing by a bakery early in the morning, when nobody is around, yet and the store everything is still c l o s e d . I f y o u a r e l u c k y enough and know the baker, you may get a fresh loaf, still warm and oh-so-fragrant, even if the store is not open and you need to have the right change because the till isn't even on. Those minutes w a l k i n g a r o u n d t o w n — w h e t h e r y o u g o t o w o r k , h a v i n g a n e a r l y w a l k , o r c o m i n g b a c k f r o m a w i l d night out with your friends — h o l d i n g w a r m b r e a d against you, maybe eating it already, are precious. Bread has been a staple of the Mediterranean food p y r a m i d f o r m i l l e n n i a . Indeed, it is part of what f o o d h i s t o r i a n s c a l l t h e Mediterranean Triad, for- m e d b y c e r e a l s ( b r e a d ) , v i n e s ( w i n e ) a n d o l i v e s (olive oil): all of the people who lived along the coasts of Our Sea, to say it with the R o m a n s , h a d a d i e t f u l l y based on these three essen- tial foods. Of course, bread remains essential in Italian kitchens today, just as it is e v e r y w h e r e a r o u n d t h e world: have you ever been to a house where there is no bread? Yes, exactly! I t a l y i s k n o w n f o r t h e wholesomeness of its bread, just like other countries, like France, for instance, with its delicious baguettes. We have a variety of shapes and sizes, and every panetteria usually a good choice of them, made fresh every morning and, sometimes, every through the day. Mind, this is not to say that Italians don't get bad bread, because we do. The generation of our grand- parents (people used to bake i t f r e s h a t h o m e o r , e v e n more likely, to prepare the dough and then go to the public stone over in the vil- lage to bake it) used to call it, at least in my area, pane cittadino or pane di città, that is, bread produced often industrially and then brou- ght to bakeries. It usually has a very crumbly crust and incredibly dry soft part. M o r e o f t e n t h a n n o t , t h o u g h , w h e n y o u a r e i n Italy, you can rest assured the bread will be good. W h a t m a n y — I t a l i a n s included — don't realize, is that we have dozens of diffe- rent types of bread in the country, with each region, n a y , e a c h p r o v i n c e e v e n , having a special recipe or s h a p e . S o , j o i n u s i n t h i s delightful journey across the c o u n t r y t o d i s c o v e r a n d t a s t e , I t a l y ' s t h o u s a n d breads. The North L e t ' s b e g i n f r o m t h e n o r t h - w e s t e r n r e g i o n s o f Valle d'Aosta, Piemonte and Liguria, each of them known across Italy for speci- fic varieties of bread: Valle d ' A o s t a , a s y o u w o u l d expect from a region whose territory is 100% mountai- nous, is famous for its dark, aromatic rye bread. Rye grows well at high altitude and it's more resistant than wheat, so it doesn't surprise rye breads are, in fact, quite c o m m o n a l o n g t h e A l p s . Here in Valle d'Aosta, it is a p e r f e c t w i t h l o c a l r u s t i c cheeses and cold cuts, as w e l l a s w i t h t h e r e g i o n ' s most popular dish, fondue. P i e m o n t e a l s o k n o w s a thing or two when it comes to good bread, with grissi- ni being probably the most famous variety hailing from there. In English, they are known as breadsticks, but d o n ' t b e f o o l e d , b e c a u s e Piedmontese grissini come in many sizes and flavors: first of all, they can be made LUCA SIGNORINI A bakery's window, with many varieties of bread: a typical view in Italy (Photo: Yulia Grigoryeva/Dreamstime) Continued to page 30 LIFESTYLE FASHION FOOD ARTS ADVICE Italy: the land of a thousand breads

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