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Bread in the Dolomites

Authors: Mary Biscari, Annamaria Polzot, Serena Isotton , Elodia Cusinato

1. Home-made Bread 
(Universita anziani/adulti, belluno/italy)

The eldest sister of my maternal grandmother lived in the country. There she had a wonderful stone oven and I remember some events that seem particularly important to me still today. This grandaunt spent the night before baking the weekly bread sitting in the kitchen and watching over the rising of the dough. It had to rise at constant environmental temperature and therefore the fire had to be followed carefully.
At day-break the oven was lighted and for checking the inner temperature, my aunt tucked her left arm sleeves up over the elbow and then she slipped the arm into the oven. If the temperature was too high then she introduced a long stick wrapped with wet towels turning it round and round. Before putting all loafs into the oven, they were marked on the top with a cruciform cut. At the end my grandaunt made a broad and solemn sign of the cross over the shaped rolls and said a prayer .

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