Sicilian pane cunzato, the typical recipe for Sicilian picnics and seaside days.Pane cunzato, as the name itself says, means seasoned bread. A typical Sicilian recipe, very easy and economical, telling the story of a stuffed sandwich made with humble ingredients such as primo sale cheese, ripe red tomatoes, oregano and anchovy fillets.
It seems that the first and most traditional pane cunzato is the pane cunzato of Scopello, the one that follows the oldest traditional recipe. Today, in fact, there are a thousand versions of pane cunzato and all different from each other. In general, pane cunzato was born in the Trapani area, so traveling through San Vito lo Capo, Erice, Marsala and the Egadi Islands you will find it in many bakeries and you can buy it to eat by the sea, perhaps with a view of the tuna fishery.
Even if now it is linked to moments of joy and conviviality, pane cunzato used to be called the bread of misfortune, because it was prepared when there was no money to cook anything else. Indeed, a piece of primo sale, some tomatoes and a few anchovies could always be found, and with a drizzle of oil and a pinch of oregano, lunch or dinner after a long day’s work were served!
Women stuffed homemade bread made with sourdough starter, soaking it with oil (sometimes sardine or anchovy oil) and flavored it as much as possible with oregano dried in the garden. Since then the recipe for pane cunzato has changed very little. But let’s go to the kitchen: I’ll tell you how to make Sicilian pane cunzato. If you want to stay updated on all my other recipes, you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.
Take a look at these Sicilian recipes:
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Rest time: 8 Hours
- Preparation time: 8 Hours
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients to make pane cunzato
- 3 1/2 cups re-milled durum wheat semolina
- 2 1/8 cups water
- 3.5 oz sourdough starter
- 2 1/4 tsp salt (for the dough)
- to taste ramato tomatoes (ripe red tomatoes)
- to taste anchovies in oil (or salted anchovies)
- to taste primo sale (cow's cheese) (Sicilian)
- to taste salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste black pepper
- to taste oregano
Tools
- Bowls
- Refractory stones
Steps to make pane cunzato
For this recipe I made the bread with sourdough starter; if you don’t have it use 12 g of fresh brewer’s yeast dissolved in a little lukewarm water. Using brewer’s yeast will reduce the rising times to 2–3 hours in total. You can mix with a stand mixer, a dough hook or by hand; in that case, if you are not used to handling very high hydration doughs, add only 450 g of water.
Pour the flour into a bowl, add half of the water, mix and then add the sourdough starter torn into pieces.
Mix roughly, cover with a cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. After that time add the salt and the remaining water,
mix in the bowl, work a few seconds with your hand and turn the dough out onto the work surface. Work it for a long time without adding flour, until you obtain a smooth, elastic and homogeneous mass.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover and keep warm for 2 hours. After that time the dough will have risen a little, lifting at least about 2 cm from the bowl (in winter it may take longer). Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, do a set of folds and divide it in two.
From each half make a rectangle, stretching the dough with your hands, then roll into long cylinders about 12–14 inches long.
Place the loaves on a very floured cloth, cover and keep warm to proof until they have at least doubled in volume. This can take from 3 to 6 hours or even longer, depending on the temperature at which you are working.
When the bread has risen, preheat the oven to its highest temperature; mine reaches 220 °C (428 °F). Set it to static mode; if you have a baking stone use it and place it in the oven so it heats as well. Place a metal or ceramic container with some water on the bottom so that steam is created during baking. Move the bread onto the hot baking stone or a baking sheet, make cuts on the surface and bake for about 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180 °C (356 °F) and bake for another 10 minutes.
Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool slightly on a rack; meanwhile slice the ramato tomatoes and the primo sale.
Cut each loaf in half, then slice across so they can be stuffed.
Fill with a generous drizzle of oil, anchovy fillets broken as you like,
slices of tomato to taste, salt, pepper, plenty of oregano and slices of cheese. Pane cunzato is ready to be enjoyed; I recommend stuffing only the amount of bread you intend to eat. The rest of the bread can be frozen when cold or stored in the pantry wrapped in a cotton cloth for a few days.
