At Christmas each house would put a large log of wood on the fire. Then all the guests ate slices of wheat bread distributed by the head of the family, who kept one for the following year, as a good wish. That bread had, especially for the poor, a special value. The bakers, in fact, except those who baked bread for the nobles, during the year were forbidden to use wheat flour, valuable and prerogative of the rich. The Milanese guilds, however, had decided that at Christmas everyone would eat the same bread, called “Pan de Sciori” or “Pan de Ton”, that is, gentlemen’s bread, luxury, which was enriched with sugar, butter and eggs.
Cit. “rito del ciocco” by Giorgio Valagussa tutor of the Sforza family.
Equipment Needed
Ingredients:
First proofing:
Second proofing:
Procedure:
First proofing:
- Knead the sourdough with flour and water;
- Insert the sugar and string the dough
- Insert the yolks in three steps. String the dough
- Add the butter in three steps. String the dough
- Rise for about 12 hours at 27 ºC
Second proofing:
- Insert the first dough in a mixer with flour, salt, sugar, honey and water
- String the dough
- Enter the aromas and yolks in 3 steps.
- Insert butter in 3 steps
- Allow to be strung and inserted for last candied fruit and sultana
- Rest for 30 minutes
- Form and insert into the 1 kg mould
- Allow to rise for 6 hours
- Bake in a static oven at 160 ºC until the core temperature of 93 ºC is reached.
- Let stand for 3 hours upside down.
