The Ftira is a leavened Maltese ring-shaped bread, usually stuffed with sardines, tuna, potatoes, fresh tomato, onion, capers, and olives. You can choose all of them or just the ones you prefer.
The Maltese bread (Il-Ħobż tal-Malti, tal-malti) is a crunchy naturally leavened bread usually baked in wood-fired ovens.
Commonly eaten with smeared olive oil (Ħobż biż-żejt) and rubbed with tomatoes or tomato paste, and stuffed with a choice between a mix of tuna, olives, capers, onion, bigilla (crushed beans, olive oil, salt, and red pepper), and ġbejna (small round cheese made from sheep’s milk).
In 2020, the Maltese ftira was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.
Do not confuse with the Gozo ftira, served more like a pizza than a sandwich: open with thinly sliced potatoes on the crust, or folded like a calzone.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 1Piece
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp nutritional yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tbsp olive oil (+ for seasoning)
- 2 tsp salt (+ for seasoning)
- 1 tomato
- 2 canned tuna in oil
- 2 boiled potatoes
- to taste olives
- to taste tomato pulp
Steps
Dissolve the yeast in warm water, add the flour, oil, and salt.
Knead and let rise, covered, for 1 hour.
Form a ring and bake in a static oven at 390°F for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven, let cool, cut in half, spread olive oil, tomato pulp, and the other chosen ingredients (the sliced tomato is seasoned with oil and salt).
Cut into pieces.
Qormi is the main city for baking in Malta, with a large number of bakeries. During the rule of the Hospitaller Knights, it was known as Casal Fornaro, meaning the city of bakers.
Nowadays, an annual festival, Lejl f’Casal Fornaro (a night in Casal Fornaro), takes place in Qormi on the third Saturday of October.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
What are the sayings related to bread in the Maltese language?
In the Maltese language, there are numerous sayings referring to bread:
• ħobżu maħbuż, his bread is baked – meaning the person is well-off.
• tilef ħobżu, he lost his bread – meaning he lost his job.
• x’ħobż jiekol dan?, what bread does he eat? – expression used when inquiring about a person’s character.
• jeħtieġu bħall-ħobż li jiekol, he needs it like his daily bread – used when a person has a great need for something.
• ħaga li fiha biċċa ħobż ġmielha, something that provides a lot of bread – used to describe a profitable effort.
• ma fihiex ħobż, it doesn’t provide bread – used to describe an unprofitable venture.
