Ever heard of Flange? 🥖 It’s a Swiss ring-shaped bread folks used to keep around as emergency pantry food — sometimes so long you’d need an axe to split it apart. 🪓

American food writer and cookbook author Heddi Nieuwsma has been livin’ in French-speaking Switzerland since 2012, and that’s where she stumbled onto this old-school bread — along with its recipe and backstory. 🇨🇭📚 She went lookin’ for it and still found it in small village bakeries. 🏡 🔥

Flange is a flat loaf shaped like a millstone. ⚙️ The sourdough’s made with flour, water, salt, and lard. 🫓🫙 Sometimes folks add potatoes or bean flour to the mix.

Curious what this “grandparents’ bread” tastes like? Of course, fresh from the oven — not rock-hard. 👇