BREAD

Spanish bread is white and of excellent quality, freshly baked every day, and sold first thing in the morning as rolls, under names like bollo or chica, ‘little girl’, and later in the day as the larger pan. Whole meal bread, and some rye or cornmeal, can be found in the north-west corner of the country.

Bread is the standard accompaniment to food, in a country where few dishes are paired. Bread is also eaten as a bocadillo, a crusty roll sandwich, with olive oil replacing butter. The cocas of Mallorca are the nearest thing to an Italian pizza.

Stale bread is used as a thickener for sauces, for it will hold a little fat in suspension; the result is light and not greasy. Torrijas are a children’s sweet: stale bread dipped in milk, then egg-coated, fried and sugared.