Easter rolls with eggs

Typical of Easter is s'angòlia, s'anguli, su cocoi de angulla, su cocoi cun s'ou, a bread, finely decorated and shaped according to a fairly wide variety of shapes. Its essential characteristic is the presence of a whole egg, cooked together with bread, a symbol of life linked to the spring awakening of nature and to the religious meanings of the Easter season.

The name Angòlia with its variants (anguli, angudes, etc.) attested in the central-southern area of the island with reference to the same type of bread with eggs, is a Byzantine Grecocism, imprinted that suggests the richness of relationships that have been layered over the course of history, worthy of making Sardinian culture particularly fascinating.

Egg bread could be dedicated to children and in this case it was grafted into the most typical forms of toy bread. For girls, we preferred sa pipia (the doll), or bussitedda (the purse), with the egg held mostly by two strips of pasta. For boys, it was common on cabonischeddu (the cockerel) and on puzoneddu (the little bird). The latter was carefully carved and engraved with a knife and scissors to separate the wings from the body and create the realistic effect of feathers; sometimes represented in the act of brooding and the eyes highlighted by grains of wheat.

In San Vero Milis (OR) the pudda priutsa was a chicken with ruffled feathers, with an egg in its belly fixed with strips of pasta; Benetutti's dove was a cut-out esplanade decorated with engravings, stamps and applications of flowers and leaves; in Gallura the raven, culboni or culbuloni, had various decorative engravings on the back, including the initials of the small recipient.

A non-childish destination was bread in the shape of a monstrance (it is expected in Lodè, in the province of Nuoro) on top of which was placed the egg secured by the usual strips of pasta. Often the eggs covered the surface of a large round esplanade, or were embedded in a bread wreath. Often the support was enriched by a riot of phytomorphic and dove motifs, similar to those present in wedding breads, as a sign of wish for abundance and prosperity and at the same time a propitiatory sign of nature's spring flourishing.

Instead of eggs in some places, such as Silanus in the Marghine, almonds were used. The composition took the name of sa cogone cun mèndula, a bread shaped like an esplanade or crown enriched with peeled almonds.

Easter breads, as ceremonial breads, had to be, in addition to being good to eat, beautiful to look at. Therefore, whenever possible, they were made with selected semolina and were cooked so that they kept a light color. Sometimes the surface was polished with a brush of egg white, or with the technique called iscaddadura and sim.: the bread was exposed to water vapor shortly before cooking was finished, or a wet wad was passed over its surface, and put it back in the oven, extracted shortly after embellished as if from a transparent varnish.

(On the cover: Bread with the egg, Tramatza. Photo archive (ISRE)

Update

7/4/2025 - 13:05