Pită de Pecica

Appearance & taste

Pită de Pecica is an irregular, slightly elongated loaf with a clearly visible break. It is well risen, tall and neither flattened nor misshapen. The thick crust is brown but not darkly baked, rough, slightly glossy and delicately crisp, with no traces of ash. The yellowish-white crumb is moist, elastic and light, with even pores, and forms a whole with the crust; the cross-section shows an airy, multi-layered structure. The bread tastes sweet and salty.

The bread weighs 4 kg, 2 kg, 1 kg or 0.5 kg and is sold baked, or baked and frozen. The moisture content is 40 to 50 % and the salt content 0.5 to 2 %.

Production

The dough consists of wheat flour, fresh yeast, water and iodised salt. According to the specification, for the sourdough starter the bakers, the pitari, use a “pită water” (apă de pită) whose preparation is known only to them. Preparing the starter is followed by kneading, fermentation, stretching and resting the dough, shaping, proving, baking and cooling; the frozen version is then blast-frozen. All steps take place in Pecica.

There are three ways of shaping: by folding, by rounding (virguire) or by long moulding (solgare). The dough must not be too heavy, which according to the specification gives it its particular elasticity. After baking, the bread is brushed with a brush dipped in water; this gives it its glossy surface and delicate crust. In the past every household usually had its own oven; today, following the same steps, it is baked only in bakeries, because the special ovens are now only found there.

Origin & history

The area covers the administrative unit of Pecica in Arad County in western Romania.

In the past the pitari bought the wheat at the local market and had it milled the same day; the family kneaded the dough all night before it was baked. The bread was sold in normal (crișca) and large (cărhănoc) loaves at the market in Arad, where it was eaten still hot and without any topping. According to the specification, hundreds of families worked in bread-making, and the bread became proverbial: at big celebrations people drank a toast to the nation and to the pită.

Every August the Feast of the New Pită (Praznicul de Pită Nouă) was celebrated in honour of the bread, on the Sunday closest to the Assumption of Mary, with bread made from that year’s wheat. In 1913 the feast was discontinued because of the First World War, and in 1974 it was revived at the initiative of the Arad history teacher Emil Crăciun Lăzureanu. At the end of 2011 Pită de Pecica was certified as a trademark; the bread is depicted on the coat of arms of the town of Pecica.