Tiròt di Felonica is a culinary highlight of the southern Mantua area. The name is linked to the need, when making it, to 'pull' - tirare in Italian - the dough so it fits into the baking tin. The skill needed originated in the peasant tradition and, having been handed down from generation to generation, has become a genuine ritual. In some local variants, white flour - once a prized ingredient used as payment by landowners - was added as well as the onions and lard. This natural risen focaccia is an excellent example of balance between starch and sugar, once vital to providing workers in the fields with the energy and fats they needed for a day's work. Moreover, as well as being a source of energy, the focaccia is a natural dilator and helps eliminate toxins through sweating. In the most traditional version, finely chopped Sermide onions are used, along with the other ingredients. This tasty focaccia is quite thin and light yellow, the taste being a clear combination of bread and cooked onions. It is best eaten as a hearty snack. The custom developed of farm labourers enjoying the unique taste of Tiròt di Felonica in the fields, when the onion harvest was over, as part of a collective moment of feasting known as SganSega*. This traditional feast is still celebrated in August in Felonica.
Ingredients
1kg fine wheat flour
30g salt
1kg Sermide onions
60g yeast
250g lard
water or milk (as needed, in equal parts)
extra-virgin olive oil (as needed)
Method
Peel the onions by hand and chop into thin slices. Leave to stand for 3 hours. Knead the ingredients together to a uniform dough (no lumps) that is pulled into shape in the baking tin. Leave to stand until it has risen completely. Then, place the dough in the oven at 200° for about 15 minutes.