Farina del mio sacco

Ancient grain, live mother yeast

Frassineto is the reason to come. The bakery works this old Abruzzese wheat, a variety that had nearly disappeared, alongside Solina and Saragolla, and builds its identity out of the grain rather than out of technique for its own sake. The name, flour from my sack, is the whole argument in four words.

Doughs are raised on lievito madre vivo, given long rests and left to mature on their own schedule, and the range is certified organic through ICEA. Gambero Rosso has awarded the bakery its Tre Pani, national recognition for a small-town forno built on grain preservation.

A working forno, run by two bakers

Farina del mio sacco is a panificio and forno bio rather than a café with tables. Two bakers founded it in Atessa in 2018 and still run the production themselves, and the operation reaches beyond the shop: certified organic loaves go out to NaturaSì stores across Abruzzo.

The house describes its work as rigorously handmade, which in practice means small batches, time-based maturation and a counter whose contents change with whatever came out of the oven that morning. The bakery also runs a declared biovegan line, so a good part of the sweet work is plant-based as well as organic, an unusual combination for an Italian bread shop of this size.

The bakers are often described as artisans of a new generation, and the project has become a local marker for clean, ethical Abruzzese food rather than simply another bread counter. The grain work is why: bringing Frassineto back into use is agricultural preservation as much as it is baking, and the loaves are the argument for it.

Order by the grain, then the Saturday breads

Build the order from the loaves. Solina, Saragolla and Frassineto breads are where the grain project is most legible, and they are the reason the bakery has national attention at all.

Saturday brings the pani ripieni, filled breads that have included a version with Solina, potato and saffron. On the sweet side the biovegan work is specific rather than token: an oat frolla with a soft dark chocolate centre is one of the regular bakes. The calendar matters too. Winter brings panettoni and a spiced Stollen with candied fruit, raisins, almonds and a sugar crust, and January and February bring Cicerchiata for the new year.

That last one is a fried honey sweet belonging to the Abruzzese calendar rather than to any pastry fashion, which is a fair summary of how the whole counter works.