The soft, brioche-like Easter bread of Trieste and Gorizia — also called pinza goriziana or focaccia friulana — a richly leavened, only moderately sweet loaf scented with orange and lemon zest and rum, its top slashed with a characteristic three-pointed 'Y' before baking. It is the ritual Trieste Easter breakfast, eaten as readily with the salumi and grated horseradish as with jam.
Pinza is the enriched Easter bread of Trieste, Gorizia and the Istrian coast, made of eggs, flour, butter and sugar and belonging to the Austro-Hungarian baking that shaped the city. Its tradition is long: it appears in Katharina Prato's 1890 Graz cookbook 'Die süddeutsche Küche' and in Maria Stelvio's 'Cucina triestina', where the making is said to take seven hours and three or four separate risings, the dough started before dawn and carried to the baker. Its symbolism is read into its form: the round, glossy loaf stands for the vinegar-soaked sponge offered to the dying Christ, and the three-pointed 'Y' cut on top is variously read as the name of Yahweh and as a practical aid to rising, while the ring-shaped presnitz beside it recalls the crown of thorns. Families had it blessed at the Good Friday Mass with hard-boiled eggs, and greeted one another 'Bona Pasqua, bona pinza'. In 1998 the Trieste Chamber of Commerce approved a production standard. It should not be confused with the rustic cornmeal pinza veneta.
Light and feathery for so rich a dough, with a fine, buttery crumb faintly sweet and perfumed with citrus and rum; because it is not very sweet it takes as happily to a slice of warm ham and a rasp of horseradish as to a spread of jam.
The high proportion of egg, butter and sugar makes an enriched dough whose fat and sugar slow gluten development and yeast activity, which is why tradition allows so long a proving — three or four risings over some seven hours — to build enough gas and structure for a light crumb. Egg yolks emulsify the fat for a fine, tender texture and, with the sugar, brown the crust deeply through the Maillard reaction and caramelisation. The 'Y' cut controls where the loaf tears as trapped gas expands in the oven, so it rises evenly rather than bursting at the side.
Variations
It is also made as pinza goriziana or focaccia friulana, and shaped into 'titole', braided loaves enclosing coloured eggs said to stand for the nails of the Cross. Some bakers scent it with vanilla or orange-flower water as well as rum and citrus. The related presnitz and putizza carry richer nut fillings, while the rustic pinza veneta of the Veneto is a quite different cornmeal bread eaten at Epiphany.
On the Palate
Where Pinza triestina sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 8
How it's made
8 steps · 1 hour active + 6 hours waiting
- 145 min
Make a starter: dissolve 20 g fresh yeast in 100 ml warm milk with 100 g flour; cover and leave to bubble, about 45 minutes.
- 290 min
Second dough: mix the starter with 150 g flour, 1 egg, 50 g sugar and 40 g softened butter; knead well, cover and prove until doubled, about 1.5 hours.
- 315 min
Final dough: work in a further 250 g flour, 2 eggs, 80 g sugar, 60 g butter, a pinch of salt, grated orange and lemon zest and 2 tbsp rum; knead 10-15 minutes to a smooth, elastic dough.
Watch outKnead the final dough a full ten to fifteen minutes until smooth and elastic — the enriched dough needs the gluten built to rise despite all the butter and sugar.
- 4120 min
Cover and prove until doubled, about 2 hours, then knock back gently.
- 5110 min
Shape into a tight round loaf on a lined tray, cover, and prove again until puffy, about 1.5-2 hours.
- 63 min
With sharp scissors or a blade, cut a deep three-pointed 'Y' across the top.
Watch outCut a deep three-pointed 'Y' — it steers where the loaf tears in the oven so it opens evenly instead of splitting at the side.
- 72 min
Brush with beaten egg for a glossy crust.
- 845 min
Bake at 170°C for about 40-45 minutes until deep golden and hollow-sounding; cool on a rack.
Watch outTap the base — a hollow sound means it's baked through; a dull thud means the dense middle is still raw.
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