Mollete de Antequera

Appearance & taste

The bread is flat and has a small volume; its underside forms an irregular ellipse. There are three sizes: the “Mollete” at 100 to 150 g, the medium one at 55 to 99 g and the small one under 55 g. For each size the specification sets the ratio of the axes and the height so that the typical shape is preserved.

The crust is ivory white with light vanilla tones, sometimes lightly toasted at the edges and underneath, and bears some flour left over from production. It is thin, soft, elastic and hardly crumbles. The whitish, slightly yellowish crumb is light and has a double pore structure: many small round pores under 5 mm, evenly distributed, and fewer, irregular larger pores under 15 mm. The moisture content is 32 to 45 %. The smell recalls yeast and bread dough; in the mouth the bread is tender and slightly sour, with notes of yeast, dough and flour.

The variant with wheat bran has a somewhat darker, speckled and rougher crust and a light, creamy brownish crumb. It tastes mild with a delicate acidity and slight bitterness and smells strongly of cereal and yeast.

Production

Wheat flour with low baking strength, water, sea salt and baker’s yeast are used; the yeast can be wholly or partly replaced by sourdough. Wheat bran may be added from 3.8 % of the dough weight, as long as the values for shape and texture are met.

The steps in the area are kneading, resting the dough, dividing, weighing and shaping into balls, resting again, shaping the pieces, proving, baking and cooling. The bread is packaged in the same premises in which it is baked, after it has cooled to below 38 °C; this preserves the high moisture content, a considerable part of which unpackaged bread can lose. It is always sold packaged, fresh in food film or a similar material, frozen or deep-frozen, or in a protective atmosphere. Bread with bran bears the statement “con salvado” (with bran) on the label, together with the size.

Origin & history

The area comprises the municipalities of Antequera and Fuente de Piedra in the province of Málaga. The specification bases the protection on the reputation of the bread. It sees its possible early origin in flat breads baked at a low temperature with little yeast, which were made in al-Andalus in the 12th and 13th centuries. The word “mollete” goes back to the Castilian “muelle” (soft).

The Mollete is documented in Antequera since at least 1539, in a collection of recipes known as the book of María Enríquez in the Historical Municipal Archive. A municipal record of 19 October 1775 permitted a baker to make “French bread and Molletes”. In 1838 Fuente de Piedra was the last municipality to become independent of Antequera and kept the same tradition. From 1939 the master baker Juan Paradas Pérez devoted himself to the Mollete again; according to the specification, the high moisture content and the low baking temperature go back to his recipe. Since the middle of the 20th century the bread has been eaten toasted for breakfast in Antequera; this way it can be kept for 4 to 5 days without seeming stale. From Antequera it spread to the province of Málaga, to Andalusia and to the whole of Spain. Since 2012 it has been listed in the Atlas of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Andalusia.