Maltese bread
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| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Malta |
| Region or state | Qormi |
| Type | Bread |
Ħobż tal-Malti is a crusty sourdough bread from Malta, usually baked in wood ovens.
The Maltese bread (hobza tal- Malti) is made of sourdough. Although it can be eaten as accompaniment to food and with a variety of fillings, the typical and favourite way to eat it is as Ħobż biż-żejt, where the bread is rubbed with tomatoes (as with the Catalan pa amb tomàquet) or tomato paste, drizzled with olive oil and filled with a choice or mix of tuna, olives, capers, onion, bigilla and ġbejna.
Qormi is the capital of breadmaking in Malta with several bakeries spread out in almost every corner of this beautiful town. In fact during the rule of the Knights Hospitaller, it was known as Casal Fornaro meaning the bakers' town. Nowadays an annually held festival, Lejl f'Casal Fornaro (a night at Casal Fornaro), takes place in Qormi on the third Saturday of October. Veteran baker Ġorġ "Il-Foqs" is locally known as the best in his profession and his bread is very sought after. He is located in a corner on St.Catherine's Square in the older part of the city known as the San Ġorġ area .Other notable bakers like Ġorġ "il-Boqboq", Ġorġ "is-Sufa", and Ġorġ "taz-Zinger" are based in San Ġorġ. On a humoristic note, the people of Qormi are teased as being "rgiel sa Nofsinhar" meaning that they are not to be relied on after noon due to most Qormi residents in the past being bakers and working late at night and in the early morning thus being very tired by noon. The reason for the Maltese bakers working at the small hours of day is that people wanted to have fresh bread ready to be bought as they were heading back home from the first mass of the day usually held at 5 am. However the real reason for this 'teasing' about not being reliable after noon has to do with a sundial on the San Gorg church (the main church in the old part of Qormi). At one point, a new building was put up close to the church, which started casting a shadow on the sun dial at around noon. At that time, the sundial's shadow (used to tell time before clocks and watches came into vogue), would only show the time until noon, at which point full shadow would cover the sun dial.
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