Galician bread facts for kids

Galician bread with a special quality mark.

Wheat bread from Galicia.

Galician bread is a special type of bread made in Galicia, a region in northern Spain. In the Galician language, it's called pan galego, and in Spanish, it's pan gallego. This bread is so unique that it has a special status called a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) since December 20, 2019. This means it must be made in a certain way in Galicia to be called Galician bread.

What makes it special? It uses a mix of local Galician wheat flour and other wheat flour, usually from Castille. It also contains water, sourdough, yeast, and salt. Galician bread has a lot of water in its dough. This makes the inside, called the crumb, very soft and spongy. It has many irregular holes and a light cream or white color. The bread tastes strong and a little bit sour because it ferments for a long time. Its crust is usually dusted with flour, smells great, is very crispy, and has a golden to dark brown color. Many people in Spain love this bread because of its high quality.

What Makes Galician Bread Special?

Galician bread is known for its soft dough. Bakers call this type of bread panes de flama. Unlike some other Spanish breads, Galician bread has a darker, crispier crust. It also has much more water in its dough. Bakers add water slowly until the dough is very wet. Sometimes, for every 100 grams of flour, they use up to 90 grams of water! This makes the dough very sticky and hard to work with. So, making real Galician bread is not easy for beginners.

The dough rests for a long time, sometimes 5 to 7 hours. This resting time, along with how it's shaped by hand and baked on hot stone, gives the bread its special taste and texture.

Where is Galician Bread Found?

Galician bread is made all over Galicia. However, not all bread from Galicia can be called "PGI Galician Bread." It must follow strict rules set by law to get this special protection. In 2020, only about 10% of people in Galicia regularly ate bread that met these special standards.

Different Shapes of Galician Bread

Galician bread comes in several traditional shapes:

• The barra is a long loaf, usually between 40 and 60 centimeters (about 16 to 24 inches) long. It weighs about 300 grams (around 10.5 ounces).
• The bola or torta is flat and round. Its weight can vary a lot, from 250 grams (about 9 ounces) to 1 kilogram (about 2.2 pounds) or even more. The name depends on where you are in Galicia.
• The bolo or fogaza is round but has an uneven shape. It's usually as long as it is wide. Sometimes, it has a special knot or cuts on top. Like the bola, its weight can be 250 grams, 500 grams, 1 kilogram, 1.5 kilograms, or more. There are also longer versions of this shape.
• The rosca looks like a flattened, irregular ring. It can weigh 250 grams, 500 grams, 1 kilogram, or more.

See also

In Spanish: Pan gallego para niños