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Bread in Spain
Bread in Spain has an ancient tradition with various preparations in each region. Bread (pan in Spanish) has been a staple food that accompanies all daily meals year round. The Iberian Peninsula is one of the European regions with the greatest diversity of breads. The Spanish gourmet José Carlos Capel estimated a total of 315 varieties in Spain. The most popular variety, the barra (baguette-shaped bread), makes up 75% of bread consumption. Beyond being consumed, bread in Spain serves historical, cultural, religious, and mythological purposes.
Wheat is by far the most cultivated cereal in the country, as it can withstand the dry climate of the interior. While brown bread is preferred in northern Europe, white flour is preferred in southern Europe for its spongier and lighter texture. North of the Pyrenees, it is more common to mix in rye flour and other grains (like the French méteil), as well as whole-wheat flour. In Spain, whole-wheat bread has only come to relevance more recently, due to an increased interest in healthier eating. Throughout Spain's history (and especially during the Franco regime), rye, barley, buckwheat, or whole wheat breads were considered "food for the poor".
Candeal, bregado or sobado bread has a long tradition in Castile, Andalusia, Leon, Extremadura, Araba, Valencia, and Zaragoza. This bread is made with Candeal wheat flour, a prized variety of durum wheat endemic to Iberia and the Balearic Islands (where it is called xeixa). The dough for the bread is arduously squeezed with a rolling pin or with a two-cylinder machine called bregadora. Similar hard-dough bread can also be found in Portugal (pão sovado, regueifa) and Italy.
Bread is an ingredient used in a wide variety of Spanish recipes, such as ajoblanco, preñaos, migas, pa amb tomàquet, salmorejo, and torrijas. Traditional Spanish cuisine arose over the centuries from the need to make the most of few ingredients. Bread is one of these ingredients, especially in inland Spain. Historically, the Spanish have been known to be high consumers of bread. However, the country has experienced a decline in bread consumption, and reorientation of the Spanish bakery is noticeable. People eat less and lower-quality bread, while the baker's job is becoming mechanized and tradition is simplifying, according to Capel (1991), Ibán Yarza (2019) and other authors.
Bread was produced in the Iberian Peninsula before the arrival of the Romans. The Iberian people cultivated wheat, and possibly other cereals such as einkorn wheat and barley. They even mastered the fermentation process. The institution of bakeries as a public establishment is due to the Greeks, and the Romans introduced significant improvements in structures such as the mill and the oven. Numerous signa pistoris ('bread stamps') have been found throughout Hispania, such as in Córdoba or Ibiza. These were used by the Romans to "mark" bread for religious reasons. The marked pieces found in central Europe allude more to the imperial cult, while in Iberia more to Roman mythology.
In Rome, fermentation was done by reusing leftover dough from previous days (sourdough). However, in Hispania, the natives had the custom of using beer foam as yeast, which resulted in lighter and fluffier bread. The writer and soldier Pliny the Elder, a Roman originally from northern Italy, served as a procurator for a while in the Iberian Peninsula and commented: "Hispania's bread is very light and very pleasing to the palate even for a refined man from Rome".
The cultivation of cereals was the dominant job during the Andalusian period (from the 8th century to the 15th century). Bread was a popular daily staple. In Al-Andalus, white bread was made from wheat flour, and a coarser and cheaper bread called "red bread" contained bran. On the Christian side of the border, the baker's trade was established as a relevant and respected profession within medieval society. After the 12th century, bakers began to form unions to regulate the market. In Spain, especially in the Mediterranean area, there have been bakers' guilds for more than 750 years. For example, the Guild of Bakers of Barcelona (Gremio de Panaderos de Barcelona) is referenced in a document from 1395.
The Spanish conquest of America led to the importation of a new cereal from which flour could be made: maize. Maize has a presence in the bakery of "Green Spain" (northern Spain). An example of bread with maize flour is boroña, brona or broa, a typical bread from Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country.
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Bread in Spain
Bread in Spain has an ancient tradition with various preparations in each region. Bread (pan in Spanish) has been a staple food that accompanies all daily meals year round. The Iberian Peninsula is one of the European regions with the greatest diversity of breads. The Spanish gourmet José Carlos Capel estimated a total of 315 varieties in Spain. The most popular variety, the barra (baguette-shaped bread), makes up 75% of bread consumption. Beyond being consumed, bread in Spain serves historical, cultural, religious, and mythological purposes.
Wheat is by far the most cultivated cereal in the country, as it can withstand the dry climate of the interior. While brown bread is preferred in northern Europe, white flour is preferred in southern Europe for its spongier and lighter texture. North of the Pyrenees, it is more common to mix in rye flour and other grains (like the French méteil), as well as whole-wheat flour. In Spain, whole-wheat bread has only come to relevance more recently, due to an increased interest in healthier eating. Throughout Spain's history (and especially during the Franco regime), rye, barley, buckwheat, or whole wheat breads were considered "food for the poor".
Candeal, bregado or sobado bread has a long tradition in Castile, Andalusia, Leon, Extremadura, Araba, Valencia, and Zaragoza. This bread is made with Candeal wheat flour, a prized variety of durum wheat endemic to Iberia and the Balearic Islands (where it is called xeixa). The dough for the bread is arduously squeezed with a rolling pin or with a two-cylinder machine called bregadora. Similar hard-dough bread can also be found in Portugal (pão sovado, regueifa) and Italy.
Bread is an ingredient used in a wide variety of Spanish recipes, such as ajoblanco, preñaos, migas, pa amb tomàquet, salmorejo, and torrijas. Traditional Spanish cuisine arose over the centuries from the need to make the most of few ingredients. Bread is one of these ingredients, especially in inland Spain. Historically, the Spanish have been known to be high consumers of bread. However, the country has experienced a decline in bread consumption, and reorientation of the Spanish bakery is noticeable. People eat less and lower-quality bread, while the baker's job is becoming mechanized and tradition is simplifying, according to Capel (1991), Ibán Yarza (2019) and other authors.
Bread was produced in the Iberian Peninsula before the arrival of the Romans. The Iberian people cultivated wheat, and possibly other cereals such as einkorn wheat and barley. They even mastered the fermentation process. The institution of bakeries as a public establishment is due to the Greeks, and the Romans introduced significant improvements in structures such as the mill and the oven. Numerous signa pistoris ('bread stamps') have been found throughout Hispania, such as in Córdoba or Ibiza. These were used by the Romans to "mark" bread for religious reasons. The marked pieces found in central Europe allude more to the imperial cult, while in Iberia more to Roman mythology.
In Rome, fermentation was done by reusing leftover dough from previous days (sourdough). However, in Hispania, the natives had the custom of using beer foam as yeast, which resulted in lighter and fluffier bread. The writer and soldier Pliny the Elder, a Roman originally from northern Italy, served as a procurator for a while in the Iberian Peninsula and commented: "Hispania's bread is very light and very pleasing to the palate even for a refined man from Rome".
The cultivation of cereals was the dominant job during the Andalusian period (from the 8th century to the 15th century). Bread was a popular daily staple. In Al-Andalus, white bread was made from wheat flour, and a coarser and cheaper bread called "red bread" contained bran. On the Christian side of the border, the baker's trade was established as a relevant and respected profession within medieval society. After the 12th century, bakers began to form unions to regulate the market. In Spain, especially in the Mediterranean area, there have been bakers' guilds for more than 750 years. For example, the Guild of Bakers of Barcelona (Gremio de Panaderos de Barcelona) is referenced in a document from 1395.
The Spanish conquest of America led to the importation of a new cereal from which flour could be made: maize. Maize has a presence in the bakery of "Green Spain" (northern Spain). An example of bread with maize flour is boroña, brona or broa, a typical bread from Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque Country.