Frisella dry bread 2Comments
Everybody knows the many different types of bread Puglia is famous for: Altamura bread (there is a movie about it!), Matera bread, Laterza bread and so on. They are all made with durum wheat, barley, rye, semolina etc and come in different shapes and size.
There is a very typical bread from Puglia that is a bit less famous, but that all the locals would have in their homes and eat regularly: the frisella dry bread!
Frisella is made with exactly the same ingredients used to make bread. The only difference is that the frisella bread is baked twice in the oven (instead of just once as for the bread) and this makes it dry.
Because it is dry it can last for many months.
In order to use and eat it, you have to soak it in the water just for one or two minutes before eating it (not longer or it will become too spongy).
In Puglia we especially love eating frisella in the summer, when we come back from the beach. We also organize many frisella parties! They are so simple and so yummy!
The best frisellas are made of barley flour, but you can also find made of durum wheat semolina.
This is the recipe for a perfect frisella:
-dry frisella (best if made of barley)
-4-5 red tomatoes (juice and pulp)
-extra virgin olive oil, intense and fruity
-dry oregano
-wild and bitter rucola/rocket
-2 tsp of capers
-pinch of sea salt
Preparation:
Soak the dry frisella bread in water for one or two minutes.
Cut the tomatoes in small pieces and use the juice to moisten the frisella.
Add the rucola (rocket) cut in small pieces, capers, oregano, pinch of sea salt and drizzle with intense extra virgin olive oil.
Sometimes we also like adding some pickled eggplants or artichokes in olive oil.
You need to eat right away and using your hands (some people try with fork and knife….but it does not work!).
Please let us know if you ever try it! The best is the one you can have on the beach with a glass of good red Negroamaro wine!
Hi Adri! thank you so much for your comment. In Puglia we love frisella. I celebrate my birthday in August with a frisella party…..lots of frisella, capers, rucola and olive oil to celebrate.
Come visit us when you can!
Greetings! This is my first visit to your very wonderful site. I arrived here via Evan Kleiman’s post on Facebook. This is one of my husband’s favorite snacks, as I wrote on Evan’s wall. His mother used to make them, minus the wine(!), as an after school snack when he was young. She would top her friselle with chopped tomatoes and herbs, and perhaps come pancetta. He loves it still.