The typical bread of Pavia becomes a street food format with typical products from Oltrepò. To drink? Sparkling, but not coca, Bonarda!
The miccone is a typical bread of the Oltrepo Pavese. If it comes from Pavia, Stradella and Broni is the usual question of parochialism, but what is certain is that the "real" miccone, Lombard fast food, is made in Pavia. And now he arrives in Milan
Miccone bread
The miccone is a large white bread from hard and dry dough composed of water (less than 50%), soft wheat flour, sourdough and salt. The ingredients are as simple as the workmanship is articulated to obtain its traditional flavor and the correct consistency, that is with a golden and robust crust and a soft and elastic white filling: the preparation lasts more than 48 hours and includes two leavenings interspersed with more re-mixes and from a manual modeling phase. Once baked, it is suggested to let it rest for another 48 hours before consumption, thanks to its ability to maintain fragrance and softness for several days, even weeks, if stored in a cool, dry place. This resistance, as well as its size, has its roots in the past centuries, when the miccone was produced by the peasants so that it could last at least two weeks and could feed substantial families. Each form weighs from 500 grams per kilo. The most famous mule today is the one produced at Stradella (PV).
Stories handed down predominantly orally want that the origins of the miccone date back to the Middle Ages, when pilgrims and merchants traveling on the ancient salt road that connects the Oltrepò to Genoa fed on long-keeping bread and fillings of products found along the way. Even today, the most widespread cheese is represented by cold cuts and cheeses from the same territories and neighboring areas, such as the raspadura lodigiana, gorgonzola or crescenza.
The most famous legend links this bread to Christmas, when, in the monasteries and then in the houses of the people of Pavia, a huge mule was placed on the table on which the characteristic cross was engraved in the pre-levitation phase, in homage to the baby Jesus: second the story, the child was saved from a dangerous situation thanks to the readiness of Jewish merchants who hid him in a container containing the bread dough, which leavened – even in the absence of yeast, unknown to the Jewish tradition – thus hiding the child .
The fast food miccone
A long slice of bread folded in half and stuffed, is typical of the Pavia tradition and has become a street food format. Born in Pavia in the homonymous restaurant in 2014 and now also arrives in Milan in via del Torchio 1. The idea is of the young entrepreneur Giuseppe Dabbene who has given new life to the family bar with the aim of rediscovering and saving the old recipe for the iconic bread and to offer local products as fillings. After a year spent in London with a food truck that brought the flavors of Pavia across the Channel, Dabbene decided to give the restaurant a second home by opening in Milan. The fillings are based on classic products from the Pavia area, such as the Bonarda cup, Varzi salami, Dorno bertagnina pumpkin jam, Breme onions, in recipes such as the Süca marüca, with a classic Oltrepò cup; crescenza, Dorno pumpkin jam and salad (€ 8); and the Oltrepò rainbow, with a classic Oltrepad cup, raspadüra, salad, Dorno pumpkin jam, Breme onion jam (€ 9.5). To drink, accompanying Oltrepò drinks, wines, from a particular spritz recipe with Aperol and Alezeia Frizzante D.O.P .; and craft beers of the Stüvenagh brewery at the foot of the Stefanago castle. The new miccone inherits from the Pavese brother also the cafeteria, active above all at breakfast, with specialty coffee roasted internally and paired with Pavese desserts, such as the 1978 Miccone cake, made with the remains of bread to reduce waste, milk and chocolate chips . Sweet also the miccone with the chocolate salami.
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