Pan Gallego de Moña

I’ve been experimenting with pan gallego (more precisely, pan de moña) recently–or rather, the shaping and baking techniques of it, as I don’t have the specific flour the traditional Galician breads would use (often leaning on AP and home-ground hard red wheat for strength, but sometimes using some rye or other oddments). I have a personal fascination with unusual shaping techniques that don’t involve scoring (I have absolutely nothing against slashing, I just think creative alternatives are neat).

Yesterday found some tips from some posts by a baker who goes by “opelouro” on instagram (there’s a tutorial/recipe for pan de moña in a story on his profile) and I baked this today. It’s all sourdough, just over half whole hard red wheat and the rest AP, and it was stretched a few times then fermented overnight.

(I did not cut it open across the middle for a photo because I cannot bear doing that to a perfectly good loaf!) :joy:


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What a crust. Looks delicious. I’d be too tempted to break off the knot at the top of the loaf and eat that. We call it the “nose” when there is a knot at the top of a bread.

Here is an excellent video on this very bread. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/KHKLNTdlzE8

If one can’t get hold of the flour called for in this recipe then one can approximate it by mixing…

80% strong bread flour
10% stone ground whole-wheat flour
10% wholegrain rye flour

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I’m curious about the metaphor or the connotations of what exactly “moña” means. There are several different meanings given in dictionaries, and the most likely could be the decorative bow or knot in a woman’s hair. But since Galicia is a distinct language region I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of something else…

Anyone know…?

I’m thinking it means “top-knot”…

https://etherwork.net/blog/bbb-may2022/

Ok, so, not that anybody but me cares that much, :upside_down_face: but my Larousse dictionary is pretty clear a coiled hair bun or knot would usually be “un moño” while “una moña” refers usually to a decorative hair ribbon associated with traditional feminine attire. the RAE online dictionary is a little cagier about it and offers additional more obscure options. (I could swear I’ve also heard “moño” used by a Mexican person to mean a ribbon bow, though NOT referring to hair decoration.) Maybe it’s just one or those slippery pairs of related words from the same root separated only by gender inflections (eg huerta/huerto jumps to mind) where the precise uses or semantics can sometimes vary…