The Bread of Matera: a Mr. bread!

Matera bread

The Bread of Matera has an original shape: an excellent consistency and a unique flavor.

E’ the typical product par excellence of the region Basilicata: the number one typical product of local gastronomy with all its meanings.

It has a croissant shape reminiscent of the Murgia of Matera: it is made from durum wheat and mother yeast. There is also a so-called form ” high bread“.

Up to 1950s, the bakers of Matera, they stamped the bread with a wooden stamp, which depicted his own family, to distinguish it from other types of bread making.

In ancient times it was prepared in the Sassi and then cooked in the public oven: thanks to its organoleptic properties it has become a product IGP (Protected Geographical Indication).

The history of Matera bread

The Bread of Matera it is obtained through an ancient processing system typical of the bakers of the province of Matera.

Making bread in Matera, it had always been an identical ritual, consisting of several stages.
It began with the recovery of the mother yeast preserved from the last bread making carried out, it was kneaded and started to rise in a clay container until the following morning. After carrying out these steps, give it, they brought bread to bake where it was “followed”, recognizing him by the symbols that represented their family.

One of the secret ingredients for its preparation is the use of durum wheat flour (irrefutable secret).

The recipe is mission impossible!

Preparing this bread in another part of Italy is not easy because what makes the difference are the typical ingredients. However, it is possible to prepare a similar one that is equally excellent: just follow the classic procedure for processing this type of bread and with a lot of commitment and love in all phases you will get a facsimile that…it will still be an extraordinary success.

A bread that begins with an ancient tradition

Matera bread has a very ancient tradition: begins in Kingdom of Naples.

It has always been a typical food of the Matera area: area where cereals are grown.

As is clear from several testimonies, both literary and artistic, the cult of bread is attested in daily but also economic life of the whole territory.

A sign of tradition and devotion

The ritual of the three cuts impressed in the dough is very suggestive: represented the Santissima Trinity: a devotion with which families thanked God for having been able to prepare this good.

In 2020, magazine “Red shrimp“, has launched a competition to elect the “best bread in Italy“: the award was won by the bakery Perrone of Matera.

Conclusions

It has always been the symbol of Matera: the perfect product that represents the region in an excellent way.

The bread offers all the products of the Basilicata land, enclosed in a casket of goodness: crunchiness of the crust and its internal softness.

Matera bread is truly a “Mr. bread”.