Italy Puglia cooking vacations and wine tours

I and Marika send all of you our warmest wishes for a wonderful and happiest 2012!!    We hope to see again all our friends that came to attend our cooking courses from everywhere in the world in the past years ….and we hope to keep sharing the beauty, culture and food of Italy with new friends.

Given the success of our Christmas cooking classes and tour in Matera last week, we are pleased to announce another SPECIAL tour in Matera on April 17-21, 2012.

Matera is located in Basilicata, a region at the border with Puglia, just 2 hour drive from Lecce. Matera became very famous after the Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ movie. The old town is called Sassi which means stones, because the houses are carved out of the rock. Originally only the facade of these dwellings was built up to set up a door or a window which let light and air the house.

Matera is also a culinary paradise. It is very famous for its bread (an IGP product), but also for the pasta, the excellent cheese (caciocavallo, ricotta) and the Aglianico del Vulture Superiore wine, which is the first DOCG wine from Basilicata. Introduced in Basilicata by the Greeks, Aglianico is planted on the Mount Vulture, an extinct volcano, on high altitudes in the region in between 200-700 metres. Vulture has volcanic soil and is rich in mineral water, which is totally reflected in the flavors and taste. Aglianico is an acidic variety, very tannic and requires a few years of aging before you can enjoy it.

During our tour in April, you will learn how to make traditional dishes of the Matera and Puglia cuisines: from local fresh pasta, to focaccia, sauces etc. All in the beautiful setting of the Matera’s Stones-Caves. You will taste the excellent local olive oils, bread and cheese and you will have fun exploring the beautiful old town of Matera with your news friends.

Happy 2012 and hope to have you on our cooking tours in Matera and Puglia with us!

What I and Marika like the most about making our own bread at home is all the nice memories that it brings back.

There is nothing better than the flavors all around our house when we bake the bread in the oven. It reminds us of our childhood when our Grandmother would make the bread for all her grandchildren. She would call us when the bread was still in the oven and bring us together around her kitchen table: we would eat that delicious and warm bread with just extra virgin olive oil and fresh tomatoes. Nothing else. It was the best bread ever, made with lots of love. 

Nowadays, once a week I and Marika make our own bread. The nice smell of the bread baking in the oven reminds us of those moments.

This is the recipes of the bread we made this week. We usually use durum wheat flour to make bread in Puglia, but for this specific recipe we used Kamut flour (asa Triticum turgidum and Khorasan). Kamut flour is an ancient type of wheat related to the durum variety. It is richer in protein, minerals (magnesium and zinc), Vitamin Bs and Vitamin E, than common wheat. It is easy to digest and, being not refined, it retains all nutritional qualities.

INGREDIENTS

2 lb 8oz kamut flour
3 cups water
5 1/2 oz sourdough starter (or natural leaven /mother dough)
2tsp sea salt

PREPARATION
First have to make your own sourdough starter (we will make a post about it).

Put 2lb 2oz of kamut flour in a bowl. Add the water and the sourdough starter. Stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Add the sea salt. Cover the bowl with a moisten napkin and let the dough rise for 24 hours.

Move to a marble table and knead the dough with your hands after adding the remaining 6oz kamut flour. Make a round or rectangular shape. Prepare a baking pan with some olive oil and flour. Place the dough on the baking pan and let it rise for another hour.

Pre-heat the oven and bake it at 400 F° for the first 10 minutes and at 350°F for the last 20 minutes.

What memories does home-made bread bring you back?

Stile Mediterraneo Cooking School Puglia celebrates its fifth anniversary in 2010!

Because of such an important event, we are hosting special PIZZA, FOCACCIA and BREAD cooking classes at our cooking school in Puglia.

On these days, cooking classes will focus on the preparation of traditional Italian pizza, bread and focaccia from Puglia.

Classes will be at a very special price! Contact us at info.stile@gmail.com to book a place.

Dates:

June 19, 2010

July 9, 2010

September 19, 2010.

Hope you will join us!

If you are interested in our Pasta days click here!

Its production has to follow a specific procedure: it can be made with the durum wheat semolina varieties: “Appulo”, “Arcangelo” which are produced in the Alta Murgia area, in Puglia.

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!

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.