Pignone Potato Bread
Features: bread made with flour and potatoes, round or tapered, with a small size. It does not weight more than half a kilo. It has a golden color, the crust is very tasty and it is soft inside.
Preparation: the ingredients include 1 kilo wheat flour, 2 kilos Pignone potatoes, salt to taste, a bit of oil, yeast. With these ingredients you obtain about 3 kilos bread. Mix the boiled and mashed potatoes with flour, add a pinch of salt and a little oil. Divide the dough into small pieces, slightly squeezing them with the palm of your hand. Let it rise for about one hour in a warm place. Meanwhile, heat up the oven to 150°C, then put the bread rolls into a big baking pan greased with a bit of oil and put the bread into the oven. If you use a wood-burning oven, the baking pan is not necessary. The bread is ready when it acquires the classical golden color. It is advisable to eat it within a couple of days.
Production Area: Pignone (La Spezia)
Curiosities: The product was used - and it is still used - for the family consumption. Potato bread is linked to the rich potato production characterizing Pignone: potatoes still represent the most important vegetables cultivated in the area. This kind of bread is a synonym of poverty: as a matter of fact, it was used by the poorest families who replaced part of wheat flour with the cheap and nourishing potatoes. Potato production is still rich today in the valleys of Casale and Pignone, in the Municipality of Pignone. It represents a "poor" dish linked to the social and economic conditions of these valleys. This kind of bread is very good if eaten together with tasty cold cuts.
