We confess: due to regional parochialism and a healthy excess, we would have preferred to use our olive oil and our flours (various semolina and Majorca ). We tried. We have done countless experiments. However, we must surrender to the evidence. We got the best results with the ingredients we constantly cheered against: manitoba and lard.

About manitoba we have already spoken extensively several times: it is essentially a flour of strength made from soft wheat, unfortunately for the most part imported. What is lard instead?

Lard is a food fat obtained by cooking the fatty tissue of the pig (in particular from the dorsal and adrenal area), filtered and left to cool. In Sicily, during the Spanish domination (between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries), the ancient Spanish term saim indicating lard, became saime (which we have heard repeatedly pronounced to our grandparents). It is therefore to be considered in all respects a traditional Sicilian ingredient , at the base of a lot of Sicilian pastry (just think of the cannoli wafer) and rotisserie (from Messina pythons, to Catania onions and sfincioni from Palermo).


Do we really know what dietary fat is?

The chemist Dario Bressanini, who as far as we are concerned is the Supreme Court of Food , writes that all food oils and fats always contain, in different percentages, the same fatty acids, bound in triglycerides . From a chemical point of view there is therefore no difference between oils and fats. However we define oils the fats that are liquid at room temperature. The triglycerides are instead the molecules (present in both animals and vegetables) that serve to store fatty acids . Fatty acids can be saturated , monounsaturated and polyunsaturated .
All dietary fats are mostly composed of triglycerides. What varies from fat to fat (ie between butter, lard, olive oil, etc.) is the more or less greater presence of saturated fatty acids than unsaturated ones. Since triglycerides are tasteless, the difference in flavor between the various dietary fats is given by the remaining small percentage of the other substances of which they are composed. oils tend to have more unsaturated fatty acids than saturated ones. Since saturated fatty acids have a higher melting point, it goes without saying that edible fats such as lard are particularly suitable for frying. The myth of the absolute harmfulness of saturated fatty acids is to be dispelled , since in the right quantity they are useful to our body. Bressanini underlines an apparent obviousness: the problem is always excesses.

In most of the tests carried out, we used in particular centrifuge butter , the most "noble" food fat we had after the olive oil of our production (which unfortunately, tests in hand , it is not exactly suitable for preparations such as brioches). However, we had to surrender to the best results obtained with lard. But how much more harm is lard than butter?


Let's do some calculations.

Lard is 97-99% made up of fatty acids; 83% of butter is "only". 44% of the fatty acids in lard are made up of saturated fatty acids; in butter, on the other hand, 49% of fatty acids are saturated. So 100 grams of lard can contain about 43 grams of saturated fatty acids; 100 grams of butter contain about 40 grams. Basically a negligible difference.
Considering also the very personal fact that, last summer, our brioche recipe included 140 grams of butter on a kilo of flour, compared to the 100 grams of lard of our last (and final for this year ...) test, we even have lowered the percentage of saturated fatty acids…

The WHO recommends a daily intake of saturated fatty acids not exceeding 30 grams. < br> In each of our brioche about 7 grams of lard and a small amount of butter end up (i.e. during the pirling, due to the buttering of the work surface) then about 3-4 grams of saturated fat, that is a quantity, from the point of view healthy, ultimately sustainable…

Why does lard "work" in a dough "work" better than butter in our opinion?

Because compared to butter it gives greater friability and softness for longer , since lard counteracts the loss of moisture even after cooking. In other words (hand tests), a brioche mixed with butter begins to lose considerable softness already after an hour from being baked (especially in winter, when, we suppose, the butter incorporated in the brioche re-solidifies more quickly); instead, the same brioche mixed with the equivalent amount of lard remains acceptably soft even after five hours (obviously stored appropriately).

For personal taste and to keep the brioche lighter, we have chosen not to put egg inside the dough (as the Sicilian tradition would instead): the relative side effect is the obtaining of a dough that is more discolored in color and less reactive. to maillardization . For practical reasons we have also chosen not to use the classic tuppo (which is equivalent to high treason here in Sicily! Pardon ...) For the rest we preferred to remain as traditionalist and "natural" as possible (for how much sense this term could have in this case), opting for example for an equally practical bitter orange marmalade instead of the more usual aromatic pastry vials and for a classic browning by brushing with yolk, which clearly will never be uniform a sprinkle of brillo brioches … < br>