Pour the flower in a bowl, add warm water and start kneading while slowly adding warm water little by little, until you have a stiff dough (until it detaches from the bowl). At the same time, add salt to taste (12 kg of flour have two handfuls of salt).Know the properties of the dough (its status): external temperature, time that it takes to rise and baking time.
Contributor: Maria Odília Vargues, 70.
Place: Tavira, Portugal
Personal Background:
She lives in Tavira. She is a housewife.
Recipe’s Personal Background
How did you learn this recipe?
She learnt this from her grandmother at the age of ten.
Is there some memory/historical event connected to this recipe?
Yes, women gathered to make bread (more commonly on Saturdays and never on Sundays as this was a Holy day, dedicated to God3) To ensure that there was a livelihood, family life and changeover to the next generation. At the end of the kneading process, a cross was made on the dough. There was a belief that the bigger the cross the greater would be the difficulties (the cross)
Personal reference to tradition transmitted by relatives (preparing together, sharing, eating together etc.)?
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Mediterranean Background
Any tradition this receipe is connected to? If yes, which one? Can you describe it?
Family recipe, passed on through generations. Familiar and Mediterranean environment.
Any Festivity this recipe is connected to? If yes, which one? Can you describe it?
Bread was an essential good. It is associated with survival. It was regularly and weekly prepared as a means of livelihood. People worked to buy flour for baking bread.
Is your recipe connected to the territory you live in? Is it strictly linked to the specificity of the agricultural environment?
For past generations it was more common the use of whole grain flour. The grinding was coarse, due to artisan mills. The outcome was an healthier whole bread.
Season (season this food is linked to)
The wheat was reaped and taken to watermills for grinding. The miller got a quota of flour for himself, the maquia. Wheat and flour was transported by donkey/mule trough the paths.
Ingredient
Nutritional Importance
Health Benefits
Wheat flour (bread)
Source of carbohydrates. High glycaemic index. The plain/white wheat flour has a low content in fibre and micronutrients when compared with whole wheat flour
Significant health benefits are only found in the whole wheat flour which, compared to normal/white wheat flour, has higher contents of fibre, minerals and anti-oxidant. There are wheat flours enriched with specific vitamins or minerals which, in some cases, can fulfil nutritional deficiencies.
Additional information
Is it suggested to eat this meal if you suffer from some disease? If yes, for which one?
No
What is the primary base with which your food is prepared? Is this a derivative of oil or another base?
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What nutrition related illnesses or deficiencies are common in your area? Are there holistic or nutrition based remedies connected to these aliments?
