Bread Italy | Italy Puglia cooking classes and wine tours

Take a personality test with food! 0

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Stile Mediterraneo

Take the following test and we tell you what personality you have.

The test is free and will take only about 1 minute to complete.

Don’t spend too much time considering your answer, your first impression is what we need. Please be completely honest in your response.

QUESTION:

What is your favorite food at lunch on your work days?

A) a caprese salad with tomato, mozzarella cheese, basil, extra virgin olive oil….accompanied by two slices of bread?

OR:

B) a delicious sandwich, with a super yummy mozzarella…some juicy tomatoes with fresh basil and… that warm bread, crunchy outside and soft inside?

————————————–

RESULTS

If your answer is A):

You are a calm person and enjoy every moment of your life. Work is good…but that’s not the most important thing in your life! You are also very social and you enjoy taking a good break at lunch with colleagues and people you like.

You understand how important it is not just to eat well and healthy…..but also HOW you eat….(see below).

If your answer is B):

You are a very dynamic person and very successful at work. You are a multi-task person. Your typical day looks more or less like this:

-gym very early in the morning

-meetings at work in the morning

-shopping at lunch…while having a quick sandwich panino standing in the coffee bar

-meetings at work in the afternoon

-aperitif and then dinner with friends

————————————-

Many times already, you may have heard that we are WHAT we eat!

Lots of medical reaserch demonstrates that what we eat can have a huge impact on our health in the long run.

I and Marika believe that what we eat is really important….but that’s not enough! Also, HOW we eat can have a huge impact on our health and well being.

There is a BIG difference between a sandwich with tomato, mozzarella and basil; and a caprese salad with tomato, mozzarella, basil and bread…..even though they are made exactly with the same ingredients and quantities.

The difference is that the caprese salad is eaten at the table. May be you are chewing slowly and may be you are relaxing while talking to someone.

The sandwich is very likely eaten in a couple of minutes, standing in a coffee bar.

We strongly believe that the Mediterranean diet is good….but to be more powerful, it needs to be accompanied by a slower lifestyle.

What do you think? we would love to hear about your experience and thoughts.

Therefore we wish you have lots of Caprese slow moments with your friends….may be with a good glass of wine from Puglia!

Tags: bread Italy caprese salad focaccia mediterranean cuisine Mediterranean Healthy food Puglia Extra virgin olive oil tomatoes
Category Cheese & Mozzarella, Focaccia & Bread, Mediterranean Healthy food, Puglia Extra virgin olive oil, cuisine

Tell us about your favorite pizza in Italy 2

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Stile Mediterraneo

If you travel around Italy, you will certainly notice that food and recipes change completely from region to region and most of the times also from town to town. Even pasta, which is always thought of as the typical Italian food, is made with different ingredients depending on whether you are in the South or North of Italy.

Pizza is certainly one of the few national Italian dishes. Pizza was first made in Naples, but now you find it anywhere in Italy. The pizza dough is always made with the same ingredients: water, yeast, flour, salt, extra virgin olive oil.
What changes from region to region is the thickness of the dough or may be the topping variety.

We are putting together a list of some of the best pizza places in Italy. Please tell us where in Italy you had your best pizza!

For more information please contact us at info.stile@gmail.com
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Tags: bread Italy focaccia Italian cuisine Italy cooking pizza Puglia cuisine
Category Focaccia & Bread, Mediterranean Healthy food, Reviews, cuisine

Puglia food festivals: the bread sagra! 6

Posted on August 01, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

My and Marika’s favorite way to celebrate the Pugliese food and wine is to attend one of the many local sagre (festivals) taking place in the small towns, year round everywhere around Puglia.

Every town organizes a different festival: from the fig, bread, pasta, meatball, eggaplant, fish, to the watermelon and icecream! The sagra celebrates what’s in season and each town’s main traditional production.

The best sagre are of course in July and August.
Last night I and Marika went to the Bread fair held in a sea town, nearby Lecce. It was so much fun!

Everytime we go to a sagra, we must start trying the Almond Cupeta. That’s something we have always done, since we were very young.

Almond cupeta is a Torrone, made only with sugar and toasted almonds!

Then we headed to the bread area. Thousands of people were waiting for the warm “Pittule”: deep fried focaccia bread…..and of course for the “Pizzini bread“: bread made with onion, tomatoes, black pepper and olives.

The best part of a sagra is of course to buy the many different and colorful candies.

It would not be a true festival without candies! Nobody can resist!

For more information on our culinary tours please write at info.stile@gmail.com

Tags: bread Italy focaccia food markets Italy Italian sweets Italy fairs Puglia events
Category Food markets, Puglia, things to do in Puglia, traditions, travel tips

Frisella dry bread from Puglia! 0

Posted on July 25, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

Everybody knows the many different types of bread from Puglia: bread from Altamura, Matera, bread made with durum wheat, barley, rye, semolina etc. All these types of bread are made with different flours and 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. However, frisella bread is baked twice in the oven, instead of just once. Because it is dry, you have to soak it in the water just for one or two minutes before eating it. The frisella can last for many months.

The best frisellas are made of rye flour, but you can also find made of durum wheat semolina.

To prepare the frisella, just soak the dry bread in water for one or two minutes. Dress it with cherry tomatoes, wild rocket, oregano a pinch of sea salt and a very intense extra virgin olive oil!

You need to eat right away and using your hands.

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 Negroamaro wine!

For more information on our culinary tours please write at info.stile@gmail.com

Tags: bread Italy cooking schools Italy Italy Cooking classes mediterranean cuisine Mediterranean Healthy food Puglia cuisine vegetables
Category Focaccia & Bread, Mediterranean Healthy food, Puglia Extra virgin olive oil, Recipes, cuisine

The roses cake….or the small panini 0

Posted on May 01, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

I and Marika are so excited to leave for one of our cooking tours. It will be lots of fun!
Before leaving, we would like to share with you one of our favorite recipes. It is similar to the local Focaccia from Lecce (but the size is much smaller). It can also remind you of some small Italian Panini.

We call it “The Roses Cake” (la torta di rose) because it reminds us of many little roses.

Ingredients for 5 people:
-250 grams flour
-1 yeast
-½ tsp sugar
-1 tsp salt
-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
-200 grams of fresh pecorino cheese
-5 tomatoes
-3 basil leaves
-Pinch of oregano
-1 tbsp capers
-3 anchovies

For the dough: melt in a cup the yeast with some warm water and the sugar. Pour the water with the yeast in a bowl with the flour and salt. Knead with your hands and let it rise for about 1 hour. Then, knead again the dough on a wooden board and cut it in small pieces, of 50 grams each.
For the inside: cut the tomatoes, cheese, basil leaves and anchovies in small pieces and dress in a bowl with oregano, olive oil and capers.
Roll out each piece of dough and place a spoon of tomatoes and cheese in the middle.

Fold the dough and close it very well.
Prepare a baking pan with some olive oil. Place each piece of dough one next to the other and let them rise for other 30 minutes.

Bake in the oven at 180° C for 35 minutes (350F).
Let us know if you make this recipe. It’s perfect to be used on the table instead of the regular bread.

For more information, please contact us at: info@stilemediterraneo.it

Tags: Appetizers bread Italy Cheese cooking tours Italy focaccia panini Puglia cuisine
Category Focaccia & Bread, Focaccia, Bread & Pizza, Italy Cooking classes, Recipes

Traditional Easter bread of Puglia! 0

Posted on April 12, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

Happy Easter to all our friends and readers!

What a wonderful joy for me and Marika to wake up this morning!

We were so excited at the idea of preparing the traditional Easter breads with eggs for our big family lunch.

This was something our Nonna used to make when we were very little: instead of chocolate eggs we used to receive this bread, which was prepared only for this special holiday. We still remember the smell and feeling the warm bread in our hands!

Now it’s our turn…..and I and Marika love making Easter bread!

This is our recipe:

- 1/2 glass freshly squeezed orange juice;

- 500 grams of flour;
- 250 whole grain flour;
- baking yeast (natural is better);

- 6 eggs;
- 1 yolk;
- 1 tsp sugar;
- 2 tsp sea salt;
- 1 lemon zest;
- 1/2 glass extra virgin olive oil;

Boil the water and prepare 6 hard eggs. Let them cool down.
Mix the two flours together. While mixing, add the olive oil and orange juice. In a cup, dissolve the yeast in warm water and add the salt and a pinch of sugar. Add the yeast to the dough. Keep kneading the dough for a while. Then separate the dough in 2 pieces, make the shape of two round baskets and place three hard eggs in the middle of each dough. Let them rise for at least two hours, in a warm environment. Mix together the yolk with a tsp sugar and glaze it on top of each bread basket. Cook in a pre-heat oven for about 30 minutes at 180°C (350°F).

Do you have any similar Easter tradition?

Please let us know if you ever make this recipe.

For more information, please contact us at: info@stilemediterraneo.it

Tags: bread Italy Easter recipes Italy Italy cooking Puglia cuisine Puglia recipes Puglia traditions
Category Puglia, Recipes, cuisine, traditions