The Milanese michetta is the symbolic bread of Milan’s capital city: it is a type of bread without a crumb, hollow inside, which is why it is also called “puffedbread” or “airplane bread,” crispy and very often used as a stuffed sandwich precisely because of its hollow interior, both at the table and during outings and outdoor picnics.
It is recognizable by its star, or rose, mold and the fragrant crispness of the dough: in fact, because of the typical rose shape, it is also known as a “rosette.”
From its origins to the present day
The Milanese michetta is a type of bread that originated in the early 18th century, during the occupation of Milanese territory by theAustro-Hungarian Empire.
The officials of the Empire, in fact, did not like the local micca, a bread common throughout the northern part of Italy that produced a lot of crumbs when broken (the name of this bread in fact originates from the Latin word mica, meaning crumb): for this reason they imported their traditional kaisersemmel (which literally means “emperor’s bread”), a small, rose-shaped loaf, weighing about 50-90 grams, characterized by a soft crumb, which, however, on Lombard soil, in which there is more moisture than in Austria, did not retain its fragrance, becoming instead soft and with an unpleasant chewy texture.
For this reason, the bakers of the time decided to remove the inner part, the crumb part, so as to leave the new bread hollow on the inside and thus fresh and crispy for longer.
Thus an early version of the michetta was born: the name originates from a mispronunciation of the German term kaisersemmel and the diminutive of the traditional Lombard micca, since the Milanese refused to pay homage to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor by using the term kaiser to refer to their bread.
Approximately two centuries later, at the end of World War II, thanks to aid measures under the Marshall Plan, the Americans gave the Italians–depositing them at the Malpensa military airport–over a million quintals of wheat and several hundred thousand quintals of a very special flour, then unknown in Europe: Manitoba flour, produced in western Canada from a special, strong wheat, characterized by extreme resistance to the harsh climate typical of the place.
Manitoba flour differs from other types of flour because of the very high percentage of protein it contains, which thus makes it the ideal element for a tasty sandwich, hollow on the inside and crispy on the outside.The Milanese bakers (also called prestinai) thus began to make and popularize the michetta as we still know it today, crumbly and fragrant, crispy but not overly hard, and perfect for stuffing.
In 2007, the Milanese michetta was enshrined among Milan’s traditional gastronomic products following the granting of De.Co (Denominazione Comunale) recognition.
In addition, there are several tributes paid to the Milanese bread by exponents of different cultural circles: one among them is the eponymous sofa with armchair by design created in 2005 by architect Gaetano Pesce, which is also hollow on the inside (with a rich honeycomb structure) and therefore called precisely “michetta.”
Instead, Piero Manzoni’s famous Achrome, now on display at the Museo del Novecento in Milan, is a 1962 work that celebrates the typical Milanese bread: a canvas covered with rows of rounded michettas coated in kaolin.
The process of preparing michetta milanese
The beginning of the preparation of michetta milanese is the biga, a mixture of flour, yeast and water that is allowed to rest for 18 to 20 hours in a cool, dry place with a temperature of about 12 degrees.
Next, the biga, which should have a very elastic consistency, is kneaded again with flour, malt and water, to which salt is later added, for at least 30 minutes.
After resting for 10 minutes, the michetta milanese dough is placed in an ad hoc machine that presses it; it is then greased with oil and allowed to rise for 40 minutes.
The dough is then divided into several smaller pieces, loaves of bread that are given-often manually, or alternatively with special molds-the traditional star or rose shape.
The loaves are allowed to rise for another 30 to 40 minutes and finally baked in the oven at a temperature of 250 degrees, until the surface of the michettas is golden brown.
Ideally, enjoy the michetta fresh out of the oven, still warm, to make the most of its fragrance.
If not consumed quickly, the texture of the michetta becomes hard, perfect for grating to make breadcrumbs.
A similar preparation process occurs for the types of bread known as “turtle” and “beetle,” or the “puff,” a typical Roman bread.
Do you want to discover more culinary stories from the city of Milan? Perhaps you might be interested in That of the pan de mej, a typical dessert of Milan!
