Pão alentejano: sourdough of the plains

Alentejo, Portugal

The round, dense sourdough of the Alentejo — a naturally leavened bread of wheat flour (often with a proportion of corn or rye), baked in a wood-fired stone oven to a deep, almost black crust and an open, sour, chewy crumb. Pão alentejano IGP (PGI) is produced exclusively in the Alentejo region using a natural starter (massa azeda — sour dough) maintained continuously in the region's bakeries. The bread is the foundation of the entire Alentejo cuisine — açorda, migas, ensopados (soaked bread stews), and sopa de cação all depend on the specific properties of pão alentejano: its sourness, its density, its ability to absorb liquid without disintegrating, and its crust's resistance to softening.

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