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El Pistor or Fornado

The names of some old arts and crafts go back to the Roman origin. The "pistòr" or baker is a real Latin word; in fact in Veneto both the oven and the bakery were inside the house. Wood was used as fuel for the oven and bread was hand-made. The bakers used to make different shapes of bread and called them in different ways: "dresse, pagnoche, bastoni, pagnochele, rosete montasù". In ancient Rome, when water-mills began to be used, the name Pistòr from Latin "pistrinum" (that is mill) was used both for the miller and for the baker: a legend says that a cunning miller opened a bakery near his own mill. When cereals began to be grown, men gave up nomadism and started living in groups or tribes in order to take care of the crops.

To get the best crops men had to observe the different seasons and the movements of the sun and the moon; so, not only astronomy influenced life but it became a science to be studied. Dried wheat was cooked on hot stones because in doing so the grains could be more easily digested; moreover cooking helped in preserving wheat for a longer time. Later dried wheat was crushed on a polished, large and heavy stone, "levigatoio", using another stone, "macinello". 

After crushing the wheat water was added and the loaves of bread were cooked between two very hot stones. Yeast was discovered when a small amount of wheat and water which had previously been forgotten was added to fresh flour. Greek- roman history covers a very long period during which the primitive crushing of wheat was substituted with big stones moved by slaves and finally with the mechanical mill.

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