Rosemary Bread is a traditional Tuscan sweet bread, especially made during Easter holidays.

It is an aromatic sweet bread, enriched with rosemary, known as ramerino in Florentine, and raisins.

The combination of rosemary and raisins might seem unusual, but it is a distinctive feature of Tuscan tradition, which often uses aromatic herbs even in desserts.

Its origin dates back centuries when it was made during Easter to celebrate spring and rebirth.

Bakers would carve a cross on the loaves to enhance the religious connotation of the bread, symbolizing devotion; in reality, the cuts mainly serve to improve leavening.

Another name given to it, referring to the type of grape used in the ancient recipe, is bread with zibibbo.

Once a local grape variety was used, which was later replaced by zibibbo, with seeds, and currently by Chilean raisins.

In the past, with the cry “with oil, the rosemary bread has arrived: I’m all zibibbo and oil, forgive the greasiness“, referring to the hard times, street vendors with their full baskets offered it to women going to church on Holy Thursday for blessing.

I made the gluten-free Rosemary Bread during a live stream on my TikTok channel, with the participation of colleague food blogger Sara, from Tuscany, from the blog Sara Buono Davvero, who explained the leavening process (see video).

Find her traditional recipe – with flour and sourdough – at the bottom, and on the blog another Tuscan recipe also made in collaboration: