Working with Flour

After another lovely breakfast, we started our day learning about flour.  Flour is much more than the all purpose white stuff we maybe have tucked into our cabinets, mostly pulled out during the holidays to make a sweet treat or festive recipe handed down through the generations.  It is one of the building blocks and staples throughout all cultures used to make sweets and savory items.  Depending on how you harvest, grind and process, it will be useful in a variety of ways.

Today we worked with burnt flour, this is a specialty here in Puglia and at Peppe Zullo.  They take the burnt wheat and process it fresh to use in pasta dishes.  This tradition dates back to the 18th century or earlier.  It comes from the time when the after the wheat was harvested and sent to the mills, the remaining straw-fields were burnt down.  The poor and needy discovered they could harvest some of the burnt wheat grains to take home and process into flour.  The color of the sfoglia (the starter base of pasta) made with this burnt flour is dark grey.  The flour is called, farina brucciato and the color is a brownish gray color, but the flavor is mild, nutty and a bit smokey.  If you haven't tried it, call up the restaurant and see if Carmella has some on hand.  It is truly a treat to taste. 

Because Peppe likes to get us into the action, the group was able to work with this flour and we made several different pasta shapes to include orecchiette, fusilli, and cicadelle, which is one of our family favorites.   
Of course each pasta was cooked and prepared with items harvested on the grounds.  We enjoyed fresh tomato and celery greens, cannelini beans and some new beans, garbanzos, olive oil..... it was all so delicious. 

The Shepard who works for Peppe stopped by and started a conversation with our Momma and her brother, Uncle Ralph.  The Shepard was delighted to learn that our family is Sciarappa and Tiso!  He remembered many of the relatives and all three enjoyed a wonderful talk about the memories of these families.   What a treat for both our mother and uncle to have this talk and see the land in which their ancestors came still holds stories of their lineage. 

For dinner, we went back into Orsara for wood oven pizza.  Dinner is typically a lighter meal as were lunch is the largest meal.  So in the evening a pizza with friends is a common thing to enjoy.  Each pizza was perfectly thin, cooked quickly in the hot oven and served with a variety of toppings.  Needless to say, our bellies are very happy being here and enjoying the harvest goodies of the land.  From the flour as the building block to the topping which are varied and plentiful.

Ciao, ciao!