Bread and bakery products from the Aosta Valley

The "pan ner", literally black bread, is obtained from the mixture of rye flour and wheat flour in variable percentages: the rye must be predominant, at least 60% of the total dough. For the dough, water, yeast and salt are added to the flours.

Black bread is a Traditional Agri-Food Product (PAT) which has a round shape, with a brown crust.

Historically, rye fields covered the slopes of much of the Aosta Valley, even at high altitudes. At the beginning of the 20th century, many cereal fields were converted into prairies for livestock farming, changing the layout of the landscape and causing the abandonment of various mills and ovens in the villages.
For some years the cultivation of rye for bread-making has resumed. Brown bread today represents a niche product compared to white bread and can be found with different percentages of rye which can reach over 90%.

Events related to bread and baking in the collective ovens of the various villages are organized in many tourist resorts in the Aosta Valley.

Crèichen or Créchen is a sweet bread typical of the Valdigne (which includes the localities of Morgex, La Salle, Pré-Saint-Didier Courmayeur, La Thuile) which is recognized as a Traditional Agri-Food Product (PAT).
To prepare it, wheat and rye flour, milk, eggs, butter, yeast and salt are used. Rounded and flattened in shape, it can have incisions of various shapes. Sometimes nuts and raisins can be added to the dough.

The beginning of baking bread in collective village ovens was a moment of intergenerational sharing. In the dim light and heat of the rooms, the children fought off sleep, waiting to see and taste their small, freshly baked and still warm loaves. Often, for some of them, it was even the only opportunity to taste something sweet.
In addition to the classic rye bread, adults also kneaded some sugary loaves, which they gave different shapes, like cockerels or other animals.

During bread making, flantse or flantsòn were prepared for the little ones, i.e. flattened and round rye bread to which a little sugar was added, sometimes a little butter, raisins, almonds and candied fruit.
To make the gift even more special, sweet breads are still given the shape of animals and some flantse are now also enriched with white flour and cocoa.

Flantse is a traditional agri-food product (PAT).

At the foot of the Gran Paradiso the sweet bread par excellence is called Mécoulin, produced and sold almost exclusively in the territory of the municipality of Cogne. It is a very simple and genuine naturally leavened sweet bread with whole milk, eggs, butter, flour, yeast, sugar, raisins which form an amber colored dessert.

The history of Mécoulin has origins far back in time: it was produced by the families of Cogne, once a year, in the collective ovens of the villages. Even today this tradition is felt and some families, with the arrival of the first snow, still prepare their own Mécoulin in the last remaining communal ovens.

Mécoulin is a traditional agri-food product (PAT).

Micóoula is a typical sweet bread from Hône prepared with wholemeal wheat and rye flour, chestnuts, raisins, butter, eggs, salt, sugar. Walnuts and dried figs may also be present.
It is a Traditional Agri-Food Product (PAT) of the Aosta Valley.

The original Micóoula was a chestnut bread produced in the nearby Champorcher valley. Over time, various ingredients have been added and the Micóoula has transformed into a real pre-Christmas sweet bread.

In Hône on December 8th do not miss the festival with food stands that allow you to taste and purchase this typical product.

The Piata is a typical baked product of the municipality of Issogne and is also a Traditional Agri-Food Product (PAT) of the Aosta Valley region.

The rediscovery and diffusion of the Piata is due to Assunto Dublanc (Arnad 1931- Issogne 1999). Towards the end of the 1960s, after many years that the collective oven of the hamlet where he lived, in Les Mariettes di Issogne, had been inactive, Dublanc decided to produce some bread to sell to supplement his income and support his large family. The idea was not to produce ordinary bread, but something original, although inspired by local tradition.

The Piata is prepared in both sweet and savory versions.
The sweet version contains butter, raisins and nuts in the dough, while apples enriched with a sugar glaze are added to its rectangular surface.
The savory version is short and round with some diamond-shaped cuts on the surface and is flavored with garlic and cumin.

Today the Piata, both sweet and savory, is produced by local bakeries and by some families who have resumed the custom of preparing it when baking rye or wheat bread in the traditional village ovens.

The characteristic biscuits of the Aosta Valley area are the "tegole" (roof tiles), prepared with hazelnuts, sugar, egg whites, flour and sometimes almonds and vanilla. During processing, the dough must be homogeneous and rather soft, to be able to "spatulate" it into thin circular shapes.

These small round and crumbly biscuits, created by Aosta Valley pastry chefs in 1930, have become the most widespread confectionery specialty in the Aosta Valley.
They can be enjoyed accompanied by custard, ice cream, hot chocolate or the delicious Cogne cream.

Store the tiles in a dry place to maintain their original crunchiness.

Discover the recipe to prepare them.