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Argentinian Farm Bread

Subject: Argentinian Farm Bread Recipe request
From: Lisa 
Date: 8/4/2020, 8:43 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com

Hi,
I also hunt recipes for various folk. Usually breads. 
My most recent hunt is for an Argentinian Farm Bread Recipe. This is for
a gentleman about 50 from the countryside of Buenos Aires. He describes 
his grandmothers bread having a light crispy crust, fluffy soft inside. 
He called it a baguette but a photo shows a significant crease between 
two rounds of dough that are free form baked, or in a tin. 

I have done several internet searches with the terms Argentinian Farm 
Bread Recipe, Argentinian Grandma’s Farm Bread Recipe including YouTube. 
These were not what he is looking for. 
I wrote to an Argentinian Chef for help. He kindly sent recipe. But again, 
it wasn’t THE recipe for this gentleman. He said the bread should be 
somewhat golden,  or so white and the texture not pillowy enough inside. 

I made the recipe again with softer flour adding some whole wheat and still 
missed the mark. 

I have searched your archives as well. Any further leads or actual recipes 
are greatly appreciated. 

Thank you, 
Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Well, I'm sure that you know that finding THE recipe can be very difficult without clues that are unique to the dish or recipe being searched for. Things like "somewhat golden, so white, and pillowy texture inside" are not helpful in such a search because descriptions like that are usually not included in a recipe.

What is the gentleman's ethnic background? Was his grandmother's ancestry Spanish, indigenous, Italian, German, or what? I recently saw a television program about Argentinian food that said that 2/3 of the population of Argentina are of Italian descent due to huge migrations many years ago. Also, in the 20th century there were many German immigrants to Argentina. These immigrants have assimilated over time and have adopted Spanish as their primary language, but recipes from their homelands may have been passed down in families.

The gentleman may have more information than he has provided to you. Are there other names by which the bread is called? Does he know a Spanish name for the bread? What did his grandmother call the bread? Does the gentleman have any relatives, possibly brothers or sisters or cousins, who can provide more information about the bread? Can he ask them? "The countryside of Buenos Aires" is a bit vague. Can he tell you the name of the town in which his grandmother lived or grew up in?

I did not go very deeply into a recipe search for Argentinian breads. I do not want to simply duplicate your previous effort and send you the same recipes that you have already tried.  I have no criteria by which to eliminate incorrect bread recipes or recipes that he has already rejected.

Let me know the results of your searching. If you want me to assist, please send me any additional information that you obtain.

Phaed

On 8/4/2020 3:53 PM, Lisa wrote: 

Thanks for response. I will see if I can get more details from this gentleman.
Especially his grandma's ethnic background and pinpoint the locale of her farm.

Thanks again,

Lisa

On Aug 5, 2020, at 5:15 PM, phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com wrote:

Hi Lisa,

You said there is a photo of the bread. Is it digital? If so, can you email it to me? If it's not digital, can you scan it and send it?

Phaed

On 8/6/2020 8:17 AM, Lisa wrote:

Hi, I appreciate your follow up on my search for an Argentine Bread.
I found this on a site called cookpad. Testing it this weekend. What I 
learned after your first response is that the gentleman's gran is of 
Russian decent, she lived in La Pampa. The golden color may be from 
either a Corn meal flour or semolina. The bread is called Galleta de 
pampa for where it is from. This link shows a picture of what Manuel 
recalls from his grandma's kitchen.
Cookpad: Galleta de Campo

Hoping this is it!

Thanks,
 Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Well, good luck!

"Galleta de pampa" appears to be a dead end. However, that photo is captioned "galleta de campo", which looks like a better lead. This page of that site: Cookpad: Pan Criollo O Galleta de Campo has a lot about "galleta de campo", which appears to literally mean "field cookie". This looks like a bread roll or biscuit and in normal usage "galleta de campo" would probably be "farm bread" or "camp bread". They even have a yearly festival for "galleta de campo". Perhaps that's it, then.

Hope it turns out well.

Phaed