Pan de Alfacar

Appearance & taste

Four shapes are made from the same basic dough. The rolls are elongated with pointed ends, the “tetas”, and a single lengthwise cut; they come in 80 g, 125 g and 250 g, from about 20 to 38 cm long. The ring (250 g) is elliptical and somewhat asymmetrical, with a cut at its thickest point; where it was closed by hand it is thinner and has no crust. The wreath (500 g, about 28 cm in diameter) is round and has a hand-formed joint called the “suegra”; a cut runs round the whole wreath except at this point. The loaves (250 g, 500 g and 1,000 g) are round, slightly domed in the middle and have a grid pattern on top within a frame of four cuts.

The crust is more than 1.5 mm thick, golden yellow, not floured, slightly glossy and relatively smooth. The crumb is cream-white, elastic and soft, with numerous irregularly distributed pores of different sizes. The aroma comes from a light to medium acetic and/or lactic fermentation. Each bread carries a hot-embossed guarantee mark with the letter “A” and the number of the bakery.

Production

Light wheat flour is used, with a natural sourdough from a previous fermentation in the area (10 to 25 % of the flour), 55 to 62 l of water from the Alfacar spring per 100 kg of flour, at most 3 % organic yeast and cooking salt. The sourdough is prepared in wooden vessels. The medium-soft dough is at 21 to 27 °C after kneading and then rests for 5 to 20 minutes; the divided balls of dough rest for at least 15 minutes.

The pieces of dough are shaped by hand. They prove under natural conditions for one to two hours, are cut lengthwise or vertically and are baked in ovens with a refractory hearth. The bread is only put into the oven from the second baking round onwards, when temperature and humidity in the oven are stable; according to the specification, this is where the slight gloss of the crust comes from. The entire production takes place in the area.

Origin & history

The area covers the municipalities of Alfacar and Víznar in the north-east of the plain of Granada, together 29.4 km², at an average altitude of 980 m, at the foot of the Sierra de Alfaguarra next to the Sierra de Huétor Natural Park. According to the specification, the humid Mediterranean mountain climate with continental influence and the native microflora of yeasts, lactic acid and acetic acid bacteria shape the fermentation. The water of the Alfacar spring is moderately mineralised, moderately to strongly alkaline and moderately to very hard; according to the specification, it strengthens the gluten structure of the light flour.

According to the specification, the name has been used since the 16th century. Bread making in Alfacar and Víznar is mentioned in, among other sources, the survey books (“Libro de Apeo y Repartimiento”) of 1571 and 1572, the Cadastre of the Marqués de la Ensenada of 1752 and the dictionary of Pascual Madoz (1845–1850). According to the geographer Bosque Laurel, the two villages dominated bread making in the surroundings of Granada around 1950; at that time 7,000 kg of Pan de Alfacar were sold daily in the city of Granada. The name has been used on sales material since the 1970s.