What’s better than going to the local baker,smelling the perfume of freshly baked bread, peeking firstly through the window to see all the fabulous different kinds of bread,rolls,foccacia,pizza,sweet breads, a certain indecision on exactly would to buy…

…and stopped in your tracks,apart from all the different kinds of bread, what are all those  different names of the breads? It’s fine that when you walk in to the bakers,some write the names of the type of bread and the price by kilo, as that’s how bread is sold here in Italy, by the kilo, and the pointing gesture sometimes work although it’s not my style, so the learning process began of learning all the different names and the varieties of bread. Crusty on the outside,soft centered,hollow centers,which ones last only a day,which ones can be used after 2 days.

This then leads me to today’s word…Tartaruga, meaning tortoise.As you can see,visually these bread rolls look like a tortoiseshell.

They have a crusty outer layer and a soft center, and are easily broken into bite sized pieces, great for making larger croutons, or for dipping into dukkah.

A new Italian word, one to remember when going to the bakers…Tartaruga.