Buccellato di Lucca

The name descends from the Latin buccella, a small mouthful; to the Romans a buccellatum was a ring of little rolls, buccellae, joined into a crown. In Lucca the bread took on a sweet, festive character tied to the September feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the city's greatest celebration. It was long the gift of godparents at a child's confirmation, and the ring was carried to Mass balanced along the forearm. It belongs to Tuscany's family of enriched sweet breads beside Florence's rosemary-and-raisin pan di ramerino. The Taddeucci bakery on Piazza San Michele, opened in 1881, remains its most famous maker, and a Lucchese proverb warns that whoever comes to Lucca and does not eat buccellato is as though he had never come at all.

The crust is thin, deep brown and lacquered, giving a little resistance before the crumb beneath turns soft and tender. It is only lightly sweet, the flavour carried by warm anise and the winey sweetness of raisins soaked through the loaf. A day old and toasted, the cut face crisps and caramelises at the edges; dipped in Vin Santo or layered with cream and macerated strawberries, it softens and drinks up the liquid.

Buccellato is an enriched dough, and its softness comes from fat and sugar interfering with gluten. Butter coats the flour proteins and sugar competes for water, so the gluten network stays short and the crumb tender rather than chewy like lean bread. Yeast ferments more slowly in this sweet, fatty dough, so it is given long, patient rises; the carbon dioxide the yeast produces is trapped by what gluten does form, raising the loaf, while fermentation also builds aroma. The raisins, soaked first, hold moisture, and their sugars help the crust colour. Brushing the top with beaten egg and sugar before baking gives the deep, glossy crust through the Maillard reaction and caramelisation, and the slash scored along the top lets the loaf expand along a controlled seam instead of bursting.