Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cereals and bread from Malta and Gozo

Ħobż tal-Malti (Maltese bread)ħobż tal-Malti

A lump of the previous day's dough is worked into a fresh batch, which rests and rises for a few hours. The dough is weighed into 650 g or 1 kg pieces, shaped into round loaves, risen briefly and baked into a crusty loaf with a very soft crumb.

Fully documentedCereals and bread3.3 h

Recipe

Ħobż tal-Malti (Maltese bread), a photo from Wikimedia Commons
Photo: EnriqueTabone, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
No fixed amounts recordedBakery process with no published recipe. Loaves start as 650 g or 1 kg pieces of dough.
Wheat flourSome bakers now use more refined flour, which gives a less dense, whiter loaf[kliewer2008]
Dough from the previous day's batchGives the slightly sour taste; one Għargħur baker makes his starter dough (tinsila) with yeast, lukewarm water and salt[kliewer2008][amp2021]
Water and salt[amp2021]
Starterbackslop (a lump of the previous day's dough); one Għargħur baker also makes his starter dough with yeast

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.3 h

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: A lump of yesterday's dough is kneaded into a fresh batch

Step 1 of 5
Work the old dough into a fresh batch
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: fresh dough.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

A lump of the previous day's dough is worked into a fresh batch, which rests and rises for a few hours. The dough is weighed into 650 g or 1 kg pieces, shaped into round loaves, risen briefly and baked into a crusty loaf with a very soft crumb. Made in 5 steps over 3.3 h. The longest step, let the dough rise, takes 3 h (A Maltese Pantry 2021).

Key numbers
Main step3 hReported[amp2021]Let the dough rise
Temperature260 °CReported[kliewer2008]Bake

What makes this one different

Ħobż tal-Malti is a round sourdough loaf, about the size of a dinner plate, baked in a wood-fired or gas oven at about 500 °F. Ftira is a different Maltese bread, a ring of bread stuffed with olives, tomatoes and anchovies (Kliewer 2008).

Related ferments

Variants

  • FtiraA ring of bread stuffed with olives, tomatoes and anchovies, called a local specialty; see its own entry.
  • Refined-flour and quick breadsSome bakers now use more refined flour, which gives a whiter, less dense loaf, or make breads that need no rising time.

Safety

The loaves are baked in wood-fired or gas ovens heated to about 500 °F (260 °C) (Kliewer 2008).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Bread has long been Malta's staple, and bakeries were once places where villagers came together to bake their own bread. Kliewer 2008 says the British government's 1837 liberalising of the grain import raised the price of wheat, and links this to the revolt of 1919 (the Sette Giugno riots). Qormi, known under the Knights as Casal Fornaro, the bakers' town, is still the island's bread town.

Microbes
No study we found names its microbes.
  1. [kliewer2008] Kliewer G. 2008, Maltese bread, a changing symbol of the island's identity, Omertaa, Journal for Applied Anthropology (field school in Gozo, July–August 2008)paper
  2. [amp2021] A Maltese Pantry 2021, The effort of our daily bread (interview with a Għargħur wood-oven baker), 15 May 2021web
  3. [wp] Wikipedia, Maltese bread (Qormi and Casal Fornaro only)wiki