With over 2,500 cheese varieties in Italy, 300 of which are classified as DOP (‘protected designation of origin’ – i.e. they must come from the area bearing the product name, like Gorgonzola) by the European Union food and farming agency, Italian supermarkets, and especially its specialist shops, truly spoil the buyer for choice. Add to this list cheeses from other European countries like French Brie or Dutch Edam then the selection is seemingly unending.

However, in this supremely cheesy country, British cheeses are notoriously absent. What would I give to taste some mature Cheddar or Wensleydale in my shopping sorties! I can’t understand this lack of UK cheeses on the Italian store shelves. Fourteen varieties of English cheeses have received their DOP certificate from the EU and there were others on course to be awarded this way. Agreed, most Cheddar does not come from the caves of the ononimous Somerset gorge but at least one variety has received the certification as ‘West Country Farmhouse Cheddar’. Are we then, exiled brits, expected to spend the rest of our lives bereft of the taste of Red Leicester or Blue Stilton?

Sadly the situation will get worse now with Brexit. The UK has cut itself off from the EU classification of specialist foodstuffs and its proposed alternative scheme has still not kicked off on DEFRA’s web site.

Fortunately, all is not lost. A neighbour in our village suggested that an Italian alternative to Cheddar could be found. It’s called Fontal and is a combination of two kinds of cheese, FONtina and emmenTAL. Fontal was first manufactured in 1955 as an answer to the competition wrought upon Italian cheese manufacture by imports. It is made from alpine cows’ milk and is seasoned for between 30 and 60 days. Versions of it are now also made in other EU countries like Germany and Denmark.

I tried some Fontal the other day, both as a separate item and toasted on a slice of brown bread. I have to agree my neighbours were quite correct. Fontal has the moderately tangy taste of medium-mature cheddar with its chubby chewy texture and its yellow-straw colour. In short, Fontal is an excellent substitute and if supplies of Cheddar were completely halted to the Italian peninsula I think, as an inveterate cheese lover, I could manage to survive.

Some people say that having a toasted cheese sandwich in the evening can give one an exciting dream. I have to admit I did have a dream after my little feast. It was about arriving at Pisa airport, having obtained a ticket with the greatest of difficulties, and finding that I had left my passport behind with boarding starting in ten minutes!  Fortunately, before arriving at the check-in point in my dream I woke up at the shock of it all! You remain warned..

Incidentally, why do the Italians call cheese ‘formaggio’? It’s because cheese for the Roman legions was made in special forms for easy distribution. Italians also use the word ‘cascio’ for cheese and ‘caseificio’ is a place where cheese is made. In Welsh cheese is known as ‘caws’. So there we have it: all derivations from the common Latin word for this delectable food item, ‘caseus.’ And don’t forget to say ‘cascio’ next time you have a photograph taken of you. I’m sure the results will be quite aaashton-ishing…

PS Friends have now informed us that Cheddar is available at Conad’s Gallicano store at 19.90 euros per kilo.

I stepped into the kitchen of my friend’s London Thames riverside flat and noticed an odd machine in its corner – something that the Italians call ‘elettrodomestico’ – i.e. an electrically powered household appliance. I asked my friend what it was used for. ‘Why’, she said in surprise. ‘It’s my bread-maker, of course.’ Until that moment I’d never suspected that such machines existed. It was not long, however, that I purchased my own bread-maker and I have never looked back. There is nothing like setting the machine in the evening with the appropriate ingredients and waking up in the morning to the smell of fresh bread: one’s very own bakery in fact.

In Italy, of course, one might say that the local bread is so good that one doesn’t need a bread-maker. As a child brought up in that city I thought how appetizing were those crusty Milanese ‘michette’. This bread roll is the symbol of Milan like the ‘baguette’ is that of Paris. It’s so soft and perfect especially when stuffed with a few slices of salami or, best of all, Nutella.  Getting up early and walking down a street in Milan one is seduced by the smell of freshly baked ‘michette’.

Meanwhile in the UK we had the ‘Wonderloaf’ about which my grandad would quip: ‘It’s called  “Wonderloaf” because it’s a wonder anybody buys it!’ Certainly the sliced, mushy, weak- crusted loaf was, in my opinion, only good for making toast and I hankered after that deliciously crunchy Italian bread. Now ironically the ‘wonderloaf’ type of bread has become quite popular in Italy where it is called ‘pane in cassetta’ which translates as ‘bread in a box’. It’s also known as ‘pancarré’ from the French for square bread.

(PS You can view an original ‘Wonderloaf’ TV advert here: https://youtu.be/yq5zgpsot7I)

When I first tasted Tuscan bread it seemed to compare a little poorly with the Milanese ‘michetta’. However, that’s because the Florentines (and the Lucchesi) often use no salt in their baking. The end product is, indeed, called ‘pane sciocco’ which translates as ‘stupid bread’. Salt used to be expensive in mediaeval times and some parsimonious lucchesi still think it is. Of course, it remains delicious and the focaccie, crostini and bruschette here are to die for.

What is the difference between a ‘panificio’ and a ‘panetteria’? In the UK the same word ‘bakery’ is used for both terms.  But the ‘panificio’ is that part of the business where bread is made. The ‘panetteria’ on the other hand, is the shop where bread and other baked goods are sold.

Longoio has its own ‘panificio’ run by Michela and Celine. Like all panifici they work at night so that the oven-fresh bread is ready for the morning deliveries to the ‘panetterie’. I have sometime stopped there on my way back from teaching English language evening classes and, especially in the often freezing winter, it’s truly a welcome stop to warm oneself in front of the wood-burning oven.

Needless to say the Longoio bread is fabulous – a true crusty farmhouse loaf either baked with white or wholemeal flour and sold in various outlets in Bagni di Lucca. For instance, one can find it at the ‘bottega Del Pane’ which is managed by Silvana opposite the bar Roma.

Penny Market, our local discount at Borgo a Mozzano, has been baking its own bread in-store for some time although obviously the dough is brought in ‘oven-ready’ from outside. More interesting for me, however, is the arrival at ‘Penny’ of three varieties of flour mix which are ready for baking one’s own ‘pane’ in a bread-making machine.

The three varieties are:

Sunflower bread flour.

Multi-cereal bread flour:

Ciabatta bread flour:

I was surprised to find that the ciabatta, which is one of my favourite Italian bread varieties, first introduced into the UK in 1985 by Marks and Sparks and also available in such supermarkets as Waitrose, is a very recent arrival on the bread scene.  ‘Ciabatta’ is Italian for ‘slipper’ and the bread’s flattish shape is supposed to remind one of a pair of bedroom foot-ware. This bread is characterised by the large holes in its soft part (a process known as alveolation – you can see this in the picture on the label of the flour above) and by its brown crunchy crust.  The ciabatta was developed in Adria in the Veneto province of Rovigo by master bakers Arnaldo Cavallari and Francesco Favaron and in 1982, Cavallari registered it as a commercial brand with the name of “Ciabatta Italia”.

I have now tried all three varieties of ‘penny’ flour and can say that the results are quite mouth-wateringly good. In each case the method to be used is quite simple:

Empty first 300 ml of water and then 500 gms of flour into the bread-maker’s container.

I like to add a teaspoonful of olive oil and a little yeast, either in dried or wet form  Strictly speaking the yeast is not needed but for me it gives an extra bounce to the loaf.

Sometimes I add some type 00 flour to give more body to the bread:

I always use the standard programme for making bread. Nothing fancy. I tend to go for the machine’s soft crust setting but medium or hard crust will work with all the flours. It all depends how you like your bread’s outside. Incidentally the Italian for crust is ‘crosta’ and the white (or brown) soft bit of the bread is called ‘mollica’.

Other flour varieties can also be purchased at Fornoli’s Coop and Bagni di Lucca’s Conad. For instance there’s ‘farina integrale’ (wholemeal flour) and also a dark flour variety which is very nice. However, I still have to find flour to make ‘pane segale’ (rye bread) and there’s nothing to beat home-made Irish soda bread as prepared by a visitor from the Emerald Isle who I hope to see again later this year.

I haven’t mentioned the classic potato bread of the upper Garfagnana which lasts for ages after it comes out of the oven or the classic ‘cecina’, a chick-pea flatbread. It’ll just have to wait for another time.

(Today’s fresh bread: multicereale!)