Pan Gallego is a traditional crusty bread originating from Galicia. It is characterized by a soft and springy crumb with many air pockets and a hard crust, depending on the variety. In artisan bakeries, it's made with wheat flour or trigo gallego (Galician wheat), a sourdough starter, salt, and large amount of water.
The bread needs long rising times – at least 3 hours – and baking times. There are four types of loaves – the bolo or hogaza, a misshapen round loaf with small cracks on the upper part and often with a topknot; the rosca, an irregular and flat ring of bread; the bola or torta, which is round and flat; and the barra, a baguette-type loaf.
Pan de barra is a Spanish-style baguette, a rustic bread loaf that’s made with a simple dough consisting of flour, water, yeast, and salt. The dough is shaped into a long, thin loaf, and it is then allowed to rise before it’s slashed on the surface and baked until crispy and nicely browned.
Although it resembles the French baguette, pan de barra typically has a harder and drier texture, which makes it an excellent base for sandwiches. In the past, there were slightly different versions of the bread in different parts of Spain, although they all shared the same long, cylindrical shape.
Viena andaluza is a traditional bread roll hailing from Andalusia. The bread roll is usually made from wheat flour, and the dough is formed into an oval shape. Once baked, these rolls should be golden and crusty, with a soft, fluffy, white crumb and a pleasant, characteristic aroma.
Viena andaluza is often used to make sandwiches such as bocadillo serranito due to its softness and its thin and elastic crust.
Considered the star of Catalan baked goods, coca is a traditional pastry prepared in a few varieties: sweet, savory, open, and closed. Depending on the variety, coca may take on various shapes and forms and resemble a flatbread, a pizza, or even a cake.
The sweet variety usually consists of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs, and it is typically topped or filled with candied fruit, marzipan, cream, or pine nuts. The savory variety is prepared in the same way, but sugar and eggs are replaced by yeast and salt.
VARIATIONS OF Coca
MOST ICONIC Coca
View moreTalo is a traditional flatbread made with corn flour and water. It is one of the most popular street foods in Basque, usually filled with txistorra sausage, although one can find talo topped with bacon, cheese, and even chocolate. Originally, it was used as bread in Basque houses, but today it is prepared at home only for special occasions.
Mollete is a traditional bread hailing from Antequera. It's made with a combination of yeast, plain flour, whole-wheat flour, salt, sugar, milk, and olive oil. The dough is rolled into oval-shaped disks, and it's then baked until golden brown. Traditionally, molletes are sliced into halves, toasted, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, and topped with sliced tomatoes and a pinch of salt.
In Andalusia, molletes are usually served for breakfast.
Coca de recapte is a traditional coca variety that's commonly found in Catalonia and Valencia. In Catalonia, this is the most common coca variety which is often sold in bakeries. It consists of a thin bread-dough base that's topped with eggplants and roasted peppers (known as escalivada) in addition to tomatoes and onions.
The locals claim that this coca variety was invented in the area of Tarragona and Lleida. Coca de recapte is traditionally eaten cold, and the word recapte in the name of the dish means something like what you have in stock, referring to the fact that the cooks add ingredients which are usually staples of Catalan kitchens.
MOST ICONIC Coca de recapte
Tortas de aceite de Castilleja de la Cuesta is a pastry made with extra virgin olive oil, flour, wheat, sugar, seeds, yeast, sesame, aniseed, salt, anise essence, and, if desired, ground almonds. Mrs. Inés Rosales rescued a family recipe in 1910 and started producing and marketing these tasty crispbreads with the help of other women from the area at the crossroads and in the old train station in Seville.
The secret behind tortas de aceite is in the preparation, it must be made by hand, because otherwise, the oil would not remain in the dough. The baking takes only a couple of minutes, and the result is a sweet, firm and crumbly crispbread. It has a light and flaky texture and a flavor and fragrance of olive oil and aniseed.
Pan de Cea is a traditional type of bread made in the Municipality of San Cristovo de Cea, in the north-west of the Province of Ourense. It is made by kneading wheat flour, water, salt and masa madre, the previously fermented yeast dough, into an elastic and tough dough.
The bread dough is then left to ferment, or rest, for 45 to 60 minutes. The bread is then kneaded once more and baked in special, wood-burning granite ovens. These ovens are the characteristic feature of the production of this bread and are specially shaped to ensure uniform baking.
Pa de Pagès Català is a type of round bread traditionally made by hand and baked in bread ovens, in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. This bread has a crisp golden crust and is spongy and soft on the inside. It is usually made using white flour, and during the slow fermentation and baking, it develops characteristic large irregular air holes that give it springy consistency.
Another unique characteristic is its ability to retain freshness longer than other types of white bread. The quality of this artisan bread depends mostly on the bakers' expertise and experience. Pa de Pagès Català is a high quality, aromatic bread with pleasant acidity and a complex flavor.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.