Tigelle Modenesi

In the Apennine mountains above Modena, families still gather around tables with baskets of these small round breads. The tigelliera, the traditional mold, was made of terracotta and heated directly in the fire. You pressed the dough between the hot disks and waited. The bread puffed. The house filled with that particular scent of flour and lard meeting heat. This is my region's bread.

Tigelle require simplicity in their making and generosity in their eating. The dough contains lard because mountain people kept pigs. They cured the fat into lardo, pounded it with rosemary and garlic, and spread this battuto into warm tigelle. The heat melted the fat into the crumb. Nothing could be simpler. Nothing could be more satisfying.

Americans sometimes call these crescentine, which creates confusion. In Bologna they make crescentine that are fried. In Modena we make tigelle that are cooked between molds. Same region, different traditions, different names. Do not let anyone tell you Italian cuisine is one thing. It never has been.