Coppia Ferrarese

Appearance & taste

A Coppia Ferrarese consists of two pieces of dough joined in the middle like a ribbon. Each piece is twisted so that four horns arranged like a fan are formed; their ends are called “Crostini”. The colour is golden yellow, straw yellow where it is twisted. The scent is intense, the taste savoury.

Depending on their size, the breads weigh 80 to 250 g; the moisture content, measured at the Crostini, is between 12 and 19 %. Each bread bears the product’s logo: a yellow “Coppia” on a blue square, above it “Coppia” in white letters on black, below it “ferrarese I.G.P.”. Additions such as “extra”, “fine” or “selected” are not permitted with the name.

Production

The ingredients are type 0 soft wheat flour, water, pure lard, extra virgin olive oil, natural sourdough, brewer’s yeast, table salt and malt or malt extract; bread-making additives are not permitted. The sourdough is made in the bakeries themselves, traditionally mostly from the juice of pressed grapes, which begins to ferment at room temperature and is then repeatedly kneaded with strong flour and water and left to stand over several stages. It contains lactic and acetic acid and gives the dough the acidity and elasticity it needs for the twisted shape.

Kneading, shaping, proving and baking as well as making the sourdough take place in the province of Ferrara. The two pieces of dough are joined by hand by the bakers. The bread must be sold within 24 hours of baking and may not be frozen or preserved in any other way, not even at intermediate stages; it may only be sold later in packaging that keeps it without preservatives or additives.

Origin & history

The area comprises the entire province of Ferrara. The municipal statutes of 1287 already obliged bakers to bake bread with small edges (“orletti”); from this came the twisted bread that is regarded as the forerunner of the Coppia. The bread had to bear the baker’s mark, be well baked and was not allowed to lose weight during baking; fines were set for breaches. Accounts of the Renaissance banquets at the Este court mention the shape of the “pane ritorto”, the twisted bread.

At the time of the application there were about 330 family bakeries in the province, baking around 500 quintals of fresh bread a day, about 60 % of it Coppia Ferrarese. According to the specification, the water, the humidity, the skill of the bakers, who learn their craft in a long apprenticeship, and the sourdough help to keep the quality of the bread the same over time.