Italian friselle (or freselle, frisedde, fresedde, frise) is a typical tarallo made essentially of durum wheat, combined in varying quantities with barley.
It is oven baked , then cut in half horizontally and it Is then baked again in the oven. The looks of the frisella is with one smooth and one rough surface.
This is not a coincidence. Since the beginning of the last millennium, the Cities throughout Italy have grabbed the products from the countryside to develop a rich gastronomic tradition and leave us accounts of a profound italian food history.
If you think about it, after all, it was a natural consequence.Cities were, in fact, the only places where everything that was needed to develop a great gastronomy concentrated: ingredients and culinary skills, naturally, but also power, richness, markets and social competition. Italian gastronomy gives its best in the urban markets, less so in the countryside farms.
It is in such places, in facts, that a number of people and friends (both italian and non) go to discover the roots and history of italian food and afterwards give accounts of their experiences with typical italian food.
If you're wandering why the circular shape, it was not for the esthetics: the hole at their center, allowed the friselle to be practically transported with a cord that was passed through them to form a sort of collier : that way they could either be hung for conservation or for comfortable transportation.
Friselle were a typical travel-bread: that's why sea water was often used, or it was used as bottom for the fish soups, which were usually consumed during the days-long fishing expeditions in the open sea.
As it might have become a familiar image to you, also in the Salento tradition, bread baking was done according to a common schedule at shared ovens. Bread could be baked bi-weekly or with an up to more than quarterly frequency, so that the quantity of the dough that a single family (or more families together, even) could amount to up to 200 Kilograms.
This site is a tribute to the italian civilisation of the table and not the blunt account of what italians put on their tables.This civilt della tavola is a produce of italian history and it is a history of divisions and violence, other that beauty and creativity.All the elements that you will find in all the pages of this site.
Malnourishment and hunger are fundamental elements of the italian food history and all our accounts proceed through the food habits of the dominators and of the dominated, through the daily alimentation and the meals of the higher classes.
This image evocates the myth of a lifestyle been built on thousands of small rural traditions and identifies the italian food history as fundamentally linked to the agricultural and the farmers' traditions.
Freselle, then, were a typical staple food, not a specialty, and were popular where fresh bread could not be consumed.
HOW THEY LOOK LIKE
Friselle have a characteristic shape, derived from their production process: they are typically circular and with a hole at their center.
Even though cook books (or, rather, writings) can be traced back to ancient times, it can be said that they remained more a sporadic attempt at extolling the virtues of the man and his skills, rather than an observation and description of the preparation methods and indications on utilisation of the different ingredients.
This sort of literature flourished between the XIII and the XIV centuries, all over Europe, and especially there were not only the arts of fine cooking were more sought-after, but where the economic (and, hence, the political and cultural) power pulsated.
In Italy, that feeling of nostalgia for the rural lifestyle is a rather recent phenomenon: this impulse towards countryside traditions and way of living has only started after people had well behind their shoulders the difficulties of the rural existence.
The color depends on both the baking time and the flour composition (more or less wheat/barley flour): color can then range from light to (very) dark brown.
HOW THEY ARE DONE
Let's have a quick look at the ingredients: durum wheat and/or barley flour, salt, water, yeastThe dough is manually processed and shaped like a small loaf, spiraled on itself.
Nobility and the upper classes in general, were in contact with each other, in the various courts in Europe and exchanged people, arts, trends and tastes. Reading recipes from one of those book might seem, to a modern reader, like the exaltation of spices, or like their used was so common that people from near the Renaissance times would have put cinnamon, or cloves or pepper in their drinking water. Nothing could be more misleading and incorrect!
Spices were not only a precious trading good (since ancient times), they were a real status symbol, back then. Many traders made fortunes by discovering or inventing new trading routes, to supply the ever increasing demand for spices among the higher classes and, as a result of this trend-setting, more and more among lower classes too.
One of my favorites is La salsa di San Bernardo fa sembrare i cibi buoni (San Bernard's sauce makes the food taste nice).
Typically porduced in Apulia, it is widely known in Campania (fresella). In the italian language, thanks to the re-discovery of the local traditions, the term frisa is becoming more common.
Try and dip it in cold water for a time depending on your taste and on the consistency of the dough. Serve then with fresh tomato, oregano, salt and some olive oil. As a variation, rub a slice of garlic on the frisella before moistening it.
The typical way to taste this bread (alla barese) is covered in a layer of olive oil, water, tomato sauce and a drop of wine, then accompanied with small artichokes and lampascioni (tassel hyacinth). This culinary specialty is called in dialect from Bari cialldda (cialda in italian).
It is oven baked , then cut in half horizontally and it Is then baked again in the oven. The looks of the frisella is with one smooth and one rough surface.
This is not a coincidence. Since the beginning of the last millennium, the Cities throughout Italy have grabbed the products from the countryside to develop a rich gastronomic tradition and leave us accounts of a profound italian food history.
If you think about it, after all, it was a natural consequence.Cities were, in fact, the only places where everything that was needed to develop a great gastronomy concentrated: ingredients and culinary skills, naturally, but also power, richness, markets and social competition. Italian gastronomy gives its best in the urban markets, less so in the countryside farms.
It is in such places, in facts, that a number of people and friends (both italian and non) go to discover the roots and history of italian food and afterwards give accounts of their experiences with typical italian food.
If you're wandering why the circular shape, it was not for the esthetics: the hole at their center, allowed the friselle to be practically transported with a cord that was passed through them to form a sort of collier : that way they could either be hung for conservation or for comfortable transportation.
Friselle were a typical travel-bread: that's why sea water was often used, or it was used as bottom for the fish soups, which were usually consumed during the days-long fishing expeditions in the open sea.
As it might have become a familiar image to you, also in the Salento tradition, bread baking was done according to a common schedule at shared ovens. Bread could be baked bi-weekly or with an up to more than quarterly frequency, so that the quantity of the dough that a single family (or more families together, even) could amount to up to 200 Kilograms.
This site is a tribute to the italian civilisation of the table and not the blunt account of what italians put on their tables.This civilt della tavola is a produce of italian history and it is a history of divisions and violence, other that beauty and creativity.All the elements that you will find in all the pages of this site.
Malnourishment and hunger are fundamental elements of the italian food history and all our accounts proceed through the food habits of the dominators and of the dominated, through the daily alimentation and the meals of the higher classes.
This image evocates the myth of a lifestyle been built on thousands of small rural traditions and identifies the italian food history as fundamentally linked to the agricultural and the farmers' traditions.
Freselle, then, were a typical staple food, not a specialty, and were popular where fresh bread could not be consumed.
HOW THEY LOOK LIKE
Friselle have a characteristic shape, derived from their production process: they are typically circular and with a hole at their center.
Even though cook books (or, rather, writings) can be traced back to ancient times, it can be said that they remained more a sporadic attempt at extolling the virtues of the man and his skills, rather than an observation and description of the preparation methods and indications on utilisation of the different ingredients.
This sort of literature flourished between the XIII and the XIV centuries, all over Europe, and especially there were not only the arts of fine cooking were more sought-after, but where the economic (and, hence, the political and cultural) power pulsated.
In Italy, that feeling of nostalgia for the rural lifestyle is a rather recent phenomenon: this impulse towards countryside traditions and way of living has only started after people had well behind their shoulders the difficulties of the rural existence.
The color depends on both the baking time and the flour composition (more or less wheat/barley flour): color can then range from light to (very) dark brown.
HOW THEY ARE DONE
Let's have a quick look at the ingredients: durum wheat and/or barley flour, salt, water, yeastThe dough is manually processed and shaped like a small loaf, spiraled on itself.
Nobility and the upper classes in general, were in contact with each other, in the various courts in Europe and exchanged people, arts, trends and tastes. Reading recipes from one of those book might seem, to a modern reader, like the exaltation of spices, or like their used was so common that people from near the Renaissance times would have put cinnamon, or cloves or pepper in their drinking water. Nothing could be more misleading and incorrect!
Spices were not only a precious trading good (since ancient times), they were a real status symbol, back then. Many traders made fortunes by discovering or inventing new trading routes, to supply the ever increasing demand for spices among the higher classes and, as a result of this trend-setting, more and more among lower classes too.
One of my favorites is La salsa di San Bernardo fa sembrare i cibi buoni (San Bernard's sauce makes the food taste nice).
Typically porduced in Apulia, it is widely known in Campania (fresella). In the italian language, thanks to the re-discovery of the local traditions, the term frisa is becoming more common.
Try and dip it in cold water for a time depending on your taste and on the consistency of the dough. Serve then with fresh tomato, oregano, salt and some olive oil. As a variation, rub a slice of garlic on the frisella before moistening it.
The typical way to taste this bread (alla barese) is covered in a layer of olive oil, water, tomato sauce and a drop of wine, then accompanied with small artichokes and lampascioni (tassel hyacinth). This culinary specialty is called in dialect from Bari cialldda (cialda in italian).
About the Author:
Many food enthusiasts wanted to know about the history of Italian food. This is because most of them do not simply eat different kinds of foods. They also find some information about them.