Pão de Escalhão

Description: Bread made from wheat and rye flour, with salt and baker's yeast. Its inner appearance is dry and porous. It is about 40 to 50 cm in diameter and 1 kg in weight.

Region: Center.

Special feature: Bread with a circular and convex shape with a relatively crispy and cracked crust. It has a pearl-white color on the inside and a light brown color on the outside.

History: It is a regional product, typical of the area, as even the oldest people in the region remember having always consumed Pão de Escalhão.

Use: As a food, especially of a regional nature, as it must be consumed before 48 hours after its manufacture.

Know-how: Mix the flours with the salt and the broken yeast and knead with water until a more or less homogeneous paste is obtained. The homogeneity of the dough depends on the degree of milling of the rye flour. The room where you knead should be more or less heated. Cover the kneading machine with white cloths and blankets for the dough to rise. Balls are usually placed on a tray to rest for a while and are baked in a wood oven. The oven temperature should be between 160 and 170 ºC, as it influences the final appearance of the product.

Source: Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses, Lisboa, DGDR, 2001