Pa de pagès (home recipe)
A Catalan country loaf from a tested home recipe, made with a fresh-yeast dough, long rise, hand-shaped round and steamed domestic-oven bake.
Modern adaptation
Pan de Cea (home adaptation)
Pan de Cea · Pan de Cea casero
This home sourdough adaptation borrows Pan de Cea’s wheat-forward loaf and central fenda while using a domestic oven and a separately documented modern formula.
A protected bread and a home adaptation
Pan de Cea’s defining format is a long wheat loaf, rounded at the ends and opened by a deep transverse fenda that makes two joined, raised halves. The official product description calls for a thick, crisp crust and a firm, fibrous crumb with an uneven distribution of holes. The protected specification ties that loaf to a place and a production method: bakeries registered in San Cristovo de Cea, previous-bake fermented dough, staged kneading and rests, and a wood-heated granite oven. A domestic loaf made elsewhere cannot claim that protected status.
The geographical link has a long documentary record. The Xunta’s condition sheet cites references to Cea bakers in the last third of the thirteenth century, connects the town’s breadmaking to the Cistercian monastery at Oseira, and describes a large local baking trade by the eighteenth century. It records women carrying bread to sell several leagues away and notes that much of the town’s population was identified as bakers in a 1752 census. Those sources document a community trade; they do not establish a single inventor or an exact first loaf.
The same regulatory document describes the protected leaven as dough retained from an earlier bake, called formento, and allows a small amount of pressed baker’s yeast. The home recipe used here instead builds a firm sourdough starter in two refreshments and ferments without the protected granite oven or workshop sequence. The author calls this a home version and explains the differences. We keep those methods distinct: the home formula is a documented adaptation, not a reconstruction of certified production.
Regional records agree on the characteristic fenda, yet the home recipe directs a lengthwise cut while the protected product specification calls it transverse. This recipe follows the official transverse shape to retain the identifying division and records the source discrepancy rather than treating the domestic version as identical. There is also a wheat-sourcing discrepancy: the Xunta condition sheet says regional wheat was generally more than half of variable flour mixtures, while the product association describes 50% and a Xunta tourism page says 75%. Those figures are not combined into a universal rule here.
The measured dough and oven method below come from the home adaptation: 750 g Galician Caaveiro flour, 250 g strong wheat flour, 800 g water, 24 g salt and 200 g firm starter. It makes two large loaves or four smaller ones, with a 4-hour bulk fermentation, an optional cold rest, a 1–2-hour final proof and a staged 250°C/220°C bake on a home baking stone. The author’s starter-feed quantities total 205 g although the dough list calls for 200 g; the method tells the baker to weigh 200 g into the dough and leaves the small remainder aside. These quantities and oven settings belong to this home method, not to the protected product specification.
History
Pan de Cea is the wheat bread associated with San Cristovo de Cea in Ourense. Its protected specification ties local production to a previous-bake dough, staged kneading and rests, an elongated loaf split by a transverse fenda, and wood-heated granite ovens. The specification cites late-thirteenth-century references to Cea bakers and describes bread supplied to the Cistercian monastery at Oseira; in the eighteenth century, its cited census lists many local bakers and ovens. The recipe here is explicitly a modern home sourdough adaptation: it uses a domestic oven, a high-hydration dough and a two-stage starter, not the protected production method. The home source and the 2003 specification also differ over the type and terminology of the leaven; the specification describes fermented dough from a prior bake, while the blogger uses a propagated sourdough starter. The formal wheat-share description varies across sources, so no single proportion is claimed here.
Ingredients
Yield 2 large loaves (about 1 kg each) · Scaling: source batch only
250 g
800 g
24 g
the recipe author specifies salt but not its typeFirm sourdough starterUse the two-stage refresh method in the steps if starting from a small amount of mature starter.
200 g
The source's refresh ingredients total 205 g, although its dough formula calls for 200 g; weigh 200 g into the dough.Method
Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Raw flour and dough
Wheat flour is raw and may carry harmful bacteria; the dough is not safe to taste before baking.
Hazard sourceHot oven, stone and peel
The home method requires handling a preheated oven stone and transferring a wet loaf at high temperature.
Hazard sourceDo not eat or taste raw flour or dough; keep it away from ready-to-eat foods and wash hands, tools and surfaces after handling.
Control sourceUse heat-resistant gloves and a dry peel; keep hands and arms clear of the hot stone and oven opening.
Control sourceThis is a home adaptation inspired by Pan de Cea, not bread certified under the protected geographical indication. Protected production requires registered production in San Cristovo de Cea under its specification.
Never taste raw flour or dough. The baking stone, peel and oven are extremely hot.
- Prepare the firm starter 12–24 hours ahead: mix 20 g mature starter with 30 g water and 50 g Galician wheat flour in a covered jar. After this refresh has fermented, add 40 g water and 65 g flour and let it ferment for 2–4 hours. The author calls the result about 200 g in the dough formula, though these feed amounts total 205 g; weigh 200 g for the dough.
- Whisk 200 g of the refreshed starter into the 800 g water. In a separate bowl combine the two flours and salt, then add the starter-water mixture. Mix by hand until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
- With damp hands, lift and fold the dough from underneath to build strength. Cover and rest another 20 minutes, then repeat the fold. Cover and ferment in bulk for 4 hours. The source gives no dough temperature target.
- Either continue directly or, after a fold, refrigerate the covered dough for 24–72 hours. If chilled, let it stand at room temperature for 2–3 hours before dividing.
- Divide the dough into two large loaves or four smaller ones. Shape each into a taut oval and proof seam-side down on floured linen for 1–2 hours.
- Heat a baking stone on a low oven rack and preheat to 250°C, conventional heat without a fan. Transfer a loaf with a peel and cut a deep central opening. The home source describes a lengthwise cut; the protected product specification describes a transverse fenda, so this adaptation follows the regional transverse form rather than claiming exact compliance.
- For two small loaves, bake 15 minutes at 250°C, then lower to 220°C and bake 25 minutes more, moving the stone up one rack. For one large loaf, bake the second stage for 40 minutes instead. If the top darkens too quickly, the source advises moving the stone down for the last 10 minutes.
- Cool on a rack before slicing. The source recommends allowing the crumb to settle before cutting; the regional product is also cooled at least an hour before release.
Conditions
Yield2 large loaves (about 1 kg each)
Fermentation19–34 h
Temperature220–250°C
Temperature controlMulti-stage
Places
San Cristovo de Cea
Historical attestation · Locality evidenceHistorical and product association only: the recipe is a modern home adaptation and does not qualify as certified Pan de Cea or claim production in this municipality.
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Sources
Sergio RecetasInspiration · Method
Cómo hacer PAN CASERO GALLEGO DE CEA (sin amasar) con masa madreAn explicitly home adapted sourdough formula: 750 g Galician Caaveiro wheat flour, 250 g strong wheat flour, 24 g salt, 800 g water and 200 g firm starter; reported yield is two large loaves or four small ones.
Starter refresh schedule, bulk fermentation, optional 24–72 h cold rest, shaping, final proof, oven-stone settings and staged baking are described. The writer says the home method differs from the protected stone-oven bake and uses sourdough rather than the traditional previous-dough method.
The article's starter refresh amounts yield 205 g while its main formula lists 200 g; the recipe records that discrepancy and weighs 200 g into the dough.
Cited in: A protected bread and a home adaptation
CRIXP Pan de CeaMethod · History · Geography
El producto: ElaboraciónThe protected product is wheat flour, potable water, edible salt and fermented dough from a previous bake, worked in stages and baked in characteristic circular granite ovens.
The association describes the fenda as transverse; it gives poia and molete weights, 45–60 minute rests and 25–30 minute rests between two or three re-kneadings, plus approximately 120 minutes baking and at least one hour cooling.
The association describes the wheat share from Galician del país varieties as 50%; the 2003 condition sheet instead says variable mixtures, generally exceeding 50%, and a Xunta tourism page says 75%, so this draft does not assert a single share.
Cited in: A protected bread and a home adaptation
Axencia Galega da Calidade Alimentaria (AGACAL), Xunta de GaliciaHistory · Method · Geography
Reglamento de la Indicación Geográfica Protegida Pan de CeaProtected production area is the municipality of San Cristovo de Cea, Ourense; registered bakeries in that area and suitable ovens are required to market bread under the PGI name.
The conditions describe previous-bake formento, optional pressed yeast up to 3 g per kg, long staged kneading and rests, the transverse fenda, minimum two-hour baking and minimum one-hour cooling.
It documents the Cea bread trade in a late-thirteenth-century reference and extensive baker activity in the eighteenth century; it describes bread supplying the Cistercian monastery at Oseira. It reports del país wheat mixtures varying by proportion, generally over 50%.
Cited in: A protected bread and a home adaptation
Xunta de GaliciaGeography · History
Medio Rural destaca que a IXP Pan de Cea conseguiu en 2025 un valor estimado case 1,15 millóns de eurosIn 2026 the Xunta reaffirmed the IGP production area as San Cristovo de Cea and described the certified bread as wheat flour, water, salt and previous-bake starter, with staged traditional kneading and wood-heated granite ovens.
U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationSafety
Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to KnowRaw flour may carry harmful bacteria; do not eat or taste raw flour or dough. Keep flour away from ready-to-eat foods and wash hands, tools and surfaces after handling.