Pane Poveri, Poor Man’s Bread
OK, I can no longer keep up the farce – I’m actually not in Italy and haven’t been for a week or so. The thing is, I still have lots of good foodie stuff to share so expect a few more Italy tidbits. I just didn’t feel good running away from my colleagues in the hallways of Canadian Living with dark shades and a baseball cap to keep up my façade of being abroad.
I met a woman in the tiny medieval town of Asolo in Veneto who made this fruit bread called Pinza, or Pane Poveri (translation, poor man’s bread) – a traditional recipe from this town. She told me the story about how she revived the recipe from her great grandmother before she died and how it has been made in this area for over one thousand years. It is called poor man’s bread because the base is made from bread crumbs mixed with nuts, dried fruits and spices and baked slowly in a wood oven for 4 to 6 hours. The one I tried had figs and oranges and was really delicious.
She was so proud of her baking she styled a platter with the ingredients of the loaf so I could take a picture of her and her prized recipe.
Does anyone know this bread? Does anyone have a recipe, I would love to try and make it but she was not giving it up!
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I thought you were the one in that baseball cap, Christine.
Did this taste like fruitcake, or less sweet?
That looks delicious. The irony of the name is that these ingredients would cost way more than just your average four cups of flour. My how times have changed.
You have to find the recipe! No luck searching for it?
Helen
Hi:
I think this bread is like the railway cakes that were made in Canada years ago that were a poor man’s cake. It would be a simple bread, like a loaf I just made that had pineapple and zucchini in it. The fruits, nuts and spices make this bread I think. There is probably some sugar in it and probably just one egg and orange and lemon juice and the skin of the orange as well as baking powder. It looks really interesting and the bread crumbs would make it like a muffin texture. You were the one that tasted it. Was it more like a bread or was it cake like? Sounds like you had a great trip. Good luck in figuring out the recipe.
Betty, I don’t think it had any leavening in it, it was very dense like a fruit cake. Also I think it was sweetened just with the fruit.
I know that Canadian Living did a story years ago on railway cakes – it’s such great Canadiana, might be time for a revival!
Oh, I sure hope you find the recipe & pass it on!!
I have so many breadcrumbs that I hate to throw out – but you can only make so many recipes with them!!
Please make sure you keep my e-mail address so that you can send the recipe to me??? In exchange, I’ll send you a chocolate breadpudding recipe that is absolutely delicious!!
Hi there. My parents are from the Veneto region and grew up eating Pinza. The base of the bread is polenta flour (cornmeal). The recipie was not written down, but passed down through the families. The fruit of choice were dried figs and raisins. Good Luck with the recipe search. I would love to surprise my parents with it.
Linda,
Yes that is the bread – she had two versions, one made with cornmeal and one made with breadcrumbs. Does any one in your family have the ingredients? I’m great at turning a bunch of ingredients into a proper recipe (my family is also Italian so I have to do it all the time)!
Hi Chrisitine, Just got off the phone with Mamma.
She says that in her family the way Pinza was made is as follows.
Make the polenta a bit firmer than usual and allow to cool slightly. Then fold in cut figs and golden raisins and several bay leaves. Spread into a 9 x 12 Pyrex and allow to cool to room temperature. Slice and serve.
My mom confirmed that this in in fact the way it was made and sold in bakerys all over the Veneto region. She does not recall a version made with breadcrumbs.
Hope this helps. Ciao for now!
Linda, I love your recipe,it’s not exactly what I had but I like the idea and I’m going to try it. I’ll let you know how it turns out
Thank your Mamma.
My mom use to make this bread at christmass time instead of fruit cake and give it to famly members and it was called poor mans bread. She would cook it on the stove before it was baked. It had nuts in it but dont think it had fruit in it. Just got the recipie from my sister this year but have to find it.