A traditional bakery in Sfakia, Crete, a series of childhood memories full of aromas and flavors and a group of young children who took care to knead their nuts with the basic ingredient on the advice of grandmother Anna: "If you want to do something good, my child, do it with your hands… ”.
The Cretan bread that had matured with sourdough and was divided into top-bottom to bottom-half to be dried and made into a nut was called kafkalo. The Cretans put it in a small backpack, the famous "vourgiali", handcrafted on the loom along with other foods.
It is handmade and kneaded with oat flour. It follows the traditional way of baking and is double-baked in the traditional ovens of Sfakia in order to keep all its good ingredients. In more detail, they contain:
- Wheat flour
- Oatmeal (70%)
- Yeast
- Wholemeal barley flour
- Kernel oil
- Salt
- Yeast
- Barley malt
HISTORY "FROM GOLD" BEHIND THE PRODUCT
In Ancient Greece, when they talked about a nut, they talked about "Dipyrite Bread". Dipyrite from the composition of the greek words "two" and "fire" as he entered the fire twice. In fact, the technique of its preparation was such that the aim was to remove any trace of moisture. The ultimate goal was to serve the needs of people who wanted to travel far. And such was the success of the new crunchy product that spread across the lengths and breadths of the world. Thus, we find it in other languages and countries with the names "biscotte" or "biscuit" for the French, biscoctus for the Latins and "biscotto" for the Italians.
In the Middle Ages, crunchy buns finally find their eternal name. They are called "rusks" of honor due to Paxamas, the wise man from Boeotia who proposed the double baking of bread and gave us one of the most delicious patents! Thus, Paxamas, the "Celementes" of antiquity who wrote many gastronomic books, introduced us to the rusk that came to star even in historical events! We find it even in the hold of warships when the Venetians brought ammunition to the Cretans. But also in World War II, the nut was a staple food for the guerrillas in the occupied mountains.
From then until today, many years have passed and with them many historical events and many changes in diet. Nuts, however, remained a key element in the daily life of Greeks in particular. From the base of Cretan salads to the easy snack that is eaten at any time, rusks are the foundation of the Mediterranean diet along with oil, olives and mizithra.