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BREAD 
Bread is the main element of traditinal cooking in Barbagia.
Once upon a time, shepherds used to live in the mountains, far from home, for long periods and they needed bread that would last for days.
That explains the dry and thin kind of bread which people from the mainland call “music-paper”, while we call it corrias or pane carasau.
Su pane e fresa is another type of bread, characterised by two layers rolled together: one is thin (like corrias), the other one is thick. The thick part was once softened with water (and still is today), in order to obtain a kind of bread that goes well with cold cuts, cheese and meat.
Pane e fresa can easily turn into a first course: if it is soaked in sheep broth or salted water and seasoned with a meat sauce and grated pecorino cheese, the result is su pane frattau. It is often served with a poached egg on top.
Other types of bread were also prepared when baking: sas costeddas, a bran bread, not toasted, su cohone hun fozza (bread with leaves), made with potatoes and water and wrapped in a cabbage leaf during baking, su pane hun gherdas, made by mixing browned pig fat with dough similar to the one used for “focacce”.
These types of bread, rich in fat, were meant to help shepherds face the difficult, tiring life in the mountains.
photo: pane carasau