Regional Recipe
Pane di Matera Style Loaf
Tall horned semolina loaf from Basilicata
This is a tall durum semolina loaf with a distinctive horned shape, baked long so the crust sets thick.
Tested and written by Erika A. Cochran
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Prep
45 minutes, plus 8–10 hours rising
Cook
1 hour
Serves
1 large loaf (PGI loaves run 0.5–10 kg)
Difficulty
Advanced
Region
Province of Matera, Basilicata
What you’ll need
Ingredients
Written for 1 large loaf (PGI loaves run 0.5–10 kg).
Showing quantities at 1× the original recipe.
- 4¾ cups remilled durum semolina or semolato
- 7 oz mother starter
- 2⅔ cups water
- 1⅛ tbsp fine sea salt
- ⅛ oz fresh compressed yeast (optional; permitted by the specification)
At the stove
Instructions
Work the mother starter until it doubles in a few hours, refreshing it as needed.
Mix the final dough for 25–35 minutes, then bulk-ferment for 25–35 minutes.
Hand-preform the dough and rest it covered for 25–35 minutes.
Hand-form the characteristic loaf, rolling one end over to raise the horn.
Bake in a hot oven — at least one hour for a 1⅛ lb loaf, longer for larger ones — venting for the final 15 minutes.
Cool completely before cutting; the crumb sets as it cools.
Recipe notes
A home adaptation, not the PGI specification. That formula is 83–125 cups starter, 8⅓–13 cups salt, 317–359 cups water and 4–8 cups compressed yeast per 800 cups durum flour, with at least 20% of the flour from local ecotypes or old varieties (Cappelli, Duro Lucano, Capeiti, Appulo).
The specification reports keeping of up to seven days for a 1-kg loaf and up to 14 days for a 10-kg loaf.
Provenance confidence: very high, from the Ministry disciplinary document and the published EU summary.
Context
Pane di Matera is a PGI bread of the Province of Matera, with all production and packaging required inside the defined area. The specification describes an ancient system of Matera-area baking with historical evidence reaching back to the Kingdom of Naples and earlier, and the EU summary preserves the community-oven testimony: the shift from family or group ovens to public rock-cut ovens, where women brought home-made loaves identified by the household mark applied before baking. Finished loaves are stamped 'MT'.
Sources: Italian Ministry of Agriculture — Disciplinare di Produzione del Pane di Matera IGP; EU Official Journal — Pane di Matera PGI application summary: (opens in a new tab); Home adaptation by Casa Magnelli Kitchen
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