Carasau or carta da musica
Form: Thin, like sheet music, 15 to 40 cm in diameter
Country of origin: Sardinia in Italy
What distinguishes it from other methods of bread making: Special method called carasatura, which makes the carasau particularly crispy
Category of bread: (1 and 7) Many variations of these bread sheets, often used like puff pastry, in the same way as Tunisian brick and Turkish börek
Particularity: Bread that shepherds took with them during their seasonal migrations. Referred to as carta da musica because of the unusual noise it makes when you bite into it
Ingredients: Durum wheat flour; durum wheat semolina; baker’s yeast; salt; warm water
Sardinia in Italy
The origin of carasau, called this because of its special method of baking called carasatura, belongs to rather obscure Sardinian history. The fact that archeologists found traces of it when excavating Nuragic sites -- rather like the truncated towers or mounds like those found in Corsica -- which date back to the middle of the Bronze age (2000 B.C.) suffices to prove that it is indeed one of the very oldest breads in the Mediterranean periphery.
Making of carasau was exclusively the job of women before the appearance of artisanal bakeries. They prepared thin leaves of semolina and wheat, and sometimes barley, flour, which they baked two at a time in the oven; they rolled them out as needed using a long wooden spade. Once turned over, then removed from the oven, they were then separated using a knife. They were then cooked again after being separated, a process referred to as carasatura, which gives the name to this Sardinian bread.
For a land of shepherds, the possibility of making bread that would keep for months was obviously a compelling requirement. During their long seasonal migration, the shepherds dampened it or soaked it before eating. Today it is found in shops under the name pane guttiau.