Pane carasau
Encyclopedia
Flatbread
A flatbread is a simple bread made with flour, water, and salt and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened: made without yeast or sourdough culture: although some flatbread is made with yeast, such as pita bread....
from Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
.
It is thin and crisp, usually in the form of a dish half a meter wide. It is made by taking baked flat bread (made of hard wheat bran (semola di grano duro), salt, yeast and water), then separating it into two sheets which are baked again. The recipe is very ancient and was conceived for shepherd
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
s, who used to stay far from home for months at a time. Pane carasau can last up to one year if it is kept dry. The bread can be eaten either dry or wet (with water, wine, or sauces). It is called carta da musica in Italian, meaning sheet music
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
, in reference to its large and paper thin shape.
Remains of the bread were found in archeological excavations of nuraghi (traditional Sardinian stone buildings) and it was therefore already eaten on the island prior to 1000 BC.
The name of the bread comes from the Sardinian word “carasare”, referring to the crush of bread.