Pagnotta del Dittaino

Appearance & taste

The bread has the traditional round shape and weighs 500 to 1,100 g; it is also sold as a cut half loaf. The crust is 3 to 4 mm thick and medium-firm. The crumb is pale yellow, fine, dense and evenly porous and very elastic. The bread contains at most 38 % moisture; according to the specification, its smell, taste and freshness are retained for up to 5 days after baking.

The label bears the logo of the designation of origin: two upright ears of durum wheat with a whole loaf between them and a half loaf above, and at the top the lettering “PAGNOTTA DEL DITTAINO DOP”.

Production

The bread is baked from fine durum wheat semolina and sourdough. The durum wheat must grow in the area, come from certified seed and meet minimum values for protein, gluten and yellow colour, for example. At least 70 % of the flour comes from the varieties Simeto, Duilio, Arcangelo, Mongibello, Ciccio or Colosseo, the rest from other specified varieties such as Cappelli, Creso or Bronte. After the harvest the wheat is only pre-cleaned and stored in silos without pesticides or synthetic agents; in the mills only cooling with cold air and turning are allowed.

The sourdough comes from a “mother yeast” that is renewed as needed: 1 part mother yeast is kneaded with 2 parts semolina and 1 part water and divided into four parts. One serves as the new mother yeast; the other three go into the dough as sourdough after ripening for at least 5 hours. Fermentation is based on lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, above all Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis, Candida milleri and Saccharomyces exiguus. Growing and harvesting the wheat, baking and packing take place in the area. The bread is packed immediately in micro-perforated plastic film or in a protective atmosphere.

Origin & history

The area covers the municipalities of Agira, Aidone, Assoro, Calascibetta, Enna, Gagliano Castelferrato, Leonforte, Nicosia, Nissoria, Piazza Armerina, Regalbuto, Sperlinga, Valguarnera Caropepe and Villarosa in the province of Enna and Castel di Iudica, Raddusa and Ramacca in the province of Catania. The climate is Mediterranean, with irregular rainfall of about 500 mm a year, mainly in autumn and winter, and frost only in exceptional cases; the soils are moderately clayey. Durum wheat is traditionally grown here without irrigation and, according to the specification, was long the only crop in these municipalities that secured work and income for the rural population.

According to the specification, durum wheat has always been used for baking bread in the area, unlike in other parts of Italy, where soft wheat is used. In the past the wheat was stored untreated in pits or granaries after the harvest and ground in nearby mills as needed. Pliny the Elder already reported on the role of wheat in Sicily in his “Naturalis Historia”: while elsewhere on the peninsula flour was obtained from acorns, chestnuts, barley or rye, the Sicilian farmers baked bread from wheat flour.