The undisputed star of all celebrations, from village festivals to religious celebrations in Sardinia, Il coconut bread it is a real "edible jewel", because it is patiently worked and decorated with precious carvings.
The most fascinating feature of this bread is the versatility with which it accompanies a person's entire life: from birth to graduation, from weddings to funerals, but also to celebrate various holidays. It can change its "face" depending on the meaning attributed to it, but coccoi remains one of the most popular breads on the island.
Already known in Roman times, there are numerous testimonies in the nineteenth century by linguists, writers, travellers. As for its meanings they are different according to the use. For example, it is good luck when it is given as a gift, still today to newlyweds, taking the form of a flower bouquet or a heart with some embroidery as a sign of prosperity and as a wish for fertility, but it is also the bread of religious festivals in general and of ceremonies. In some variants its religious aspect is highlighted by decorations that represent scenes from the Bible, vice versa it has anthropological value when decorated with symbols of the pagan tradition. At Easter it is customary to give “su coccoi cun s'ou”, a small crown of hard dough bread that surrounds a hard-boiled egg, symbol of the resurrection of Christ. But it also has the value of the memory of the loved one on the holidays of the deceased.
It is prepared exclusively with fine durum wheat semolina, as per tradition, while in the North with soft wheat flour. Last June he applied to obtain the highest recognition for a food product: la Dop. At stake is the need to enhance artisanal and traditional bread, also from an economic point of view. In this regard, the Promoting committee of Coccoi Dop breads.
But what is needed for this recognition? The coccoi Dop must be made only with ingredients made in Sardinia, therefore Sardinian semolina, "fiore" flour, mother yeast, water and salt, but above all the skill of carving, so as to give it the shapes that distinguish it from other breads.
Bread-making is one of the oldest and best-preserved arts on the Isola dei Quattro Mori. So deeply rooted that a Museum of Ritual Bread, in the country of Borore. Since 2006 it has been exhibiting over 300 types of bread and traditional desserts, including su coccoi in all its forms.
Manually processed durum wheat flour, one slow leavening and cooking in a wood-fired oven: always the same ingredients but an infinite number of different results, from shapes to flavors to aromas. In the past, the preparation of the bread had a periodic cadence and featured all the women and the traditional domed wood-burning oven. And it has always been women who have taken care of the entire bread-making chain: from the collection, washing and selection of cereals to the milling, from the preparation of the yeast to the processing of the dough up to the baking. And nothing was thrown away - the remains of bran were given to the animals.
But whatever guise it comes in, coconut is distinguished by a very crunchy and golden crust, a soft crumb and an unmistakable aroma. Here is the recipe for Sardinian hard dough bread:
Coccoi bread recipe
Ingredients:
Semolina: 1 kg
Mother yeast: 30 g
Salt: 20 g
Water
Procedure:
Put the semolina on the work surface and start kneading with the sourdough diluted in a little warm water. Proceed with circular movements, adding slightly salted warm water from time to time. Processing must be long until the pasta is smooth and consistent. Cover the dough and let it rise for about an hour. Then proceed with the formation of the loaves and the decoration of the shapes, a complex procedure that is carried out with the help of three tools: a toothed wheel for making the typical "horns" along the entire perimeter, known as "Sa serretta", the to carve the upper part “S'arrasoyedda”, and finally some small scissors for further cuts on the tips. The result? A real sculpture made of bread. The dough thus decorated will have to rise for another two hours. Finally, proceed with cooking, preferably in a wood oven or alternatively at 200-220° for 40 minutes.
