Fogaça da Feira

Appearance & taste

Fogaça da Feira is light brown and cone-shaped and has four “battlements” at the top. The dough is airy and light, pale yellow and porous, crisp on the outside; the bread tastes lightly of lemon and cinnamon. The size is free, as long as the height is no more than 35 % above or below the diameter of the base.

It is sold packed, loose or deep-frozen, also in halves or slices. The label carries “Fogaça da Feira — Indicação Geográfica Protegida” or “Fogaça da Feira IGP” and the product’s logo.

Production

The dough is kneaded from type 45 or 55 wheat flour, eggs, sugar, butter, fresh yeast or baker’s yeast, water, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice and lemon zest. It is shaped first into a roll, then into a kind of tie and finally into the cone, which is always rolled out in the same direction, from bottom to top. According to the specification, the baker must also judge the weather, because it affects the fermentation of the dough. A cut in the top produces the four points.

During baking, the breads are taken out of the oven, the “battlements” are raised and the breads are put back in until they are done. Baking time and temperature must be balanced so that the Fogaça bakes evenly through and becomes airy and light inside. All steps, from preparing through shaping and cutting to baking, take place in the area.

Origin & history

The area is the municipality of Santa Maria da Feira. According to the specification, the Fogaça is already mentioned in medieval documents, for example in 1220 as a levy in the inquiries (“Inquirições”) that King Afonso II of Portugal had carried out in the Terra de Santa Maria, the centre of the region with the town of Vila da Feira and its castle. The bread owes its shape to this castle.

The Fogaça goes back to a vow to Saint Sebastian and is the offering at the largest religious festival of the municipality, the Festa das Fogaceiras, which is named after it. The festival is held on 20 January and celebrated its 500th anniversary in 2005. It includes a show of Fogaça da Feira attended by bakers and tasters, and a ceremony of the brotherhood Confraria da Fogaça da Feira, which aims to make known and preserve the characteristics of the genuine Fogaça. The bread is also always offered at fairs and exhibitions in the municipality.