#LebensfreudeChiantiClassico: Pane Toscano
Pane Toscano
High time for Tuscan indulgence & Italian joie de vivre!
For many weeks now, I have been reporting on the situation in Chianti on my blog during the corona pandemic under the hashtag #SehnsuchtChiantiClassico. Now it seems that the worst is over. It's high time for me to look positively to the future and bring more joie de vivre back to my blog. And what is more synonymous with joie de vivre in Italy than food and drink! Some people may be spending their vacation at home this year, or at least in their own country, and will sorely miss Italy, Tuscany and Chianti. For this reason, I would like to bring a little of this Tuscan-Italian "godimento della vita" into your home with my new blog series under the hashtag #LebensfreudeChiantiClassico - in the form of recipes from the "Cucina Toscana".
The Cucina Toscana - dishes full of history
So my blog will be all about simple and very typical dishes that you can prepare with ingredients that you can get at home in any supermarket, at weekly markets or very easily in online stores that deliver to Austria and Germany. And of course, the dishes are also about which wine tastes particularly good with them! How could it be any different with #NinainChianti...
The first recipe: Pane Toscano
Pane Toscano is a cultural asset of Tuscany - comparable to olive oil. Like olive oil, the "real" Pane Toscano also has a protected designation of origin and is marked with the three letters DOP. These stand for "Denominazione d'Origine Protetta", which translates as "protected designation of origin". In other words: only then is it a Pane Toscano that has been produced with ingredients from the region in the region. Basically, it is a light-colored bread made from wheat flour and water, but completely without salt. It sounds pretty simple, but as is so often the case, the devil is in the detail. Basically, it is made using an Italian variant of sourdough: "Lievito Madre".
Pane Toscano DOP
Salt-free bread is a cultural asset in Tuscany
Why salt-free bread?
There are numerous stories surrounding the origins of this salt-free Tuscan specialty. One is considered very likely: the disputes between Pisa and Florence began in the 12th century. As a result, the maritime republic of Pisa stopped the salt trade with the interior of the country. The salt, which had suddenly become precious, was primarily used for preserving meat and no longer for everyday use in the kitchen. As a result, bread was baked without salt.
Regional bread culture
The question remains as to why salt-free bread has survived to this day, when "white gold" is available in abundance. Perhaps because Pane Toscano is (almost) a question of faith: some categorically reject it and wonder what the point of bread without salt is. Others appreciate its benefits and love it - I belong to this group! And why? Because the neutral Pane Toscano is the perfect accompaniment to many typical and often very spicy Tuscan dishes.
Tuscan bread often helps to enhance the flavor of typical dishes, such as the combination with wild boar salami. Also typical: bruschetta and fettunta - toasted slices of bread with tomatoes or oil, or panzanella, a summery bread salad. And last but not least: Papa al Pomodoro. Dishes that actually arose from the desire to make use of stale bread.
What's more, anyone who has ever eaten pasta with an excellent sauce will understand why you don't want to leave even the tiniest bit of it behind. The ideal helper: the Pane Toscano, which perfectly absorbs any leftover sauce thanks to its coarse-pored structure and brings even the last drop to the palate.
Every loaf needs its time
I have often tried to bake a Pane Toscano at home. I've studied and tried countless recipes, but very often I wasn't happy with the result. Alessia from the Gagliole winery gave me her own personal bread recipe and we baked it together.
The absolute "secret ingredient" for almost any bread is time. Because bread is not something you can make quickly. It simply takes time. But let's start from the beginning:
Lievito madre
The Italian sourdough
Prepare and maintain Lievito Madre
The secret of the perfect pane toscano is the right base. And as already mentioned, this is lievito madre, which in turn consists of nothing more than flour and water. However, choosing the right flour can be tricky: it is best to use an organically produced "Farina di grano tenero tipo 0" - i.e. type zero wheat flour. Alternatively, you can also use wheat flour type 480 (Austria) or type 550 or 1050 (Germany).
Alessia from the Gagliole winery and Nina in Chianti had a lot of fun baking bread
Pane Toscano with Lievito Madre
Alessia prepares her Pane Toscano with Farina di grano tenero Tipo 0, Farina di grano tenero Manitoba Tipo 0 and some Semola di grano duro, water and Lievito Madre.
My tip: Austrian journalist and Slow Food ambassador Barbara van Melle has dedicated herself entirely to baking bread and at www.krusteundkrume.at you can find tips and tricks about baking in the online store as well as everything you need for baking - including the perfect flour for Pane Toscano. You can read more about flour types and their differences in the individual countries here.
The dough is best kneaded using a food processor, folded several times after half an hour and placed in the fridge to mature for ten to twelve hours (preferably overnight). The bread can then be shaped and baked.
The ingredients for Pane Toscana: flour and water
Almost a guarantee of success: baking bread in a pot
The simpler version for Pane Toscano from the pot
For all those for whom this is all too complicated, Edi, the good soul at La Valletta, has given me a recipe for Pane Toscano that uses very, very little brewer's yeast and is baked in a pot. It uses Farina di grano tenero Tipo 0, Farina di grano tenero Manitoba Tipo 0, water and, as mentioned, very little yeast. The bread is baked in the oven in a cast-iron pot with a lid or in a so-called Aromapot made of enamel from the Austrian company Riess after the dough has matured for at least 12 - 14 hours. After a certain time, the lid is removed and the bread is baked.
Over the next few weeks, I will be serving you some of my favorite dishes - or rather the recipes for them. So that we can all bring a little piece of Tuscany and therefore a big piece of #LebensfreudeChiantiClassico into our homes. By the way, it always tastes best with friends and family! That's also "typically Tuscan"! With this in mind: Buon appetito and see you soon!