The Maxokk Ftira

The Maxokk Ftira

Anyone who visits Tal-Maxokk bakery at Nadur might think that those pizzerias that spend thousands on a new oven are crazy.

Because many of us would be happy to swap the pizzas we eat in restaurants at Sliema or Marsalforn with their Gozitan-style traditional ftira, baked in an old stone oven and fired with wood.

Grace Farrugia, 47, who helps run the family bakery says that in summer they hardly cope with business. "Once, a couple who had tried our ftira at a friend's told us they spent three weeks looking all over Nadur for us," she boasts, throwing back her head.

Such a three-week wild goose chase is hardly surprising. Entering the bakery is like entering a house - it doesn’t have a name or sign - since except for the warm wave of heat that hits you at the door, there is nothing to indicate that the brown-yellow aluminium door is the entrance to a bakery.

Inside the living room-sized bakery, three women with aprons mill about; one preparing the dough by massaging it gently with her fingers, the other spreads the ingredients on top, while another places the ftira in the bathroom-sized oven, torched by pieces of wood in one corner which throw eerie tongue-like glows to lick the blackened walls. Twenty minutes later, the ftira will be crunchy and sizzling.

In his late sixties, Paul, who together with Maria, his wife, who is the same age, owns the bakery, sits outside chatting with customers. His work starts when the bakery shuts for the day. Behind the scenes, he goes about foraging for firewood.

The ftira is as simple as the bakery itself. The are five types of ftira to chose from; either a closed pizza bulging with cheese made from sheep's' milk or an open one, which can be of sardines, tuna, an all-rounder and an olive-ftira with olives, potatoes, capers, tomatoes, basil and onions. The open ftiras start off with a layer of coin-thick sliced potatoes, then chopped tomatoes, parsley, green peppers, chopped garlic, sardines or tuna and then, finish it off by pouring a lick of oil, plus a pinch of salt, pepper, basil and capers.

Vegetarians can have it minus fish; and ask for extras if they like to. Sounds mouth watering? Well, who can resist the smell of parsley, or the salty taste of sardines?

But its uniqueness is in the sandy-coloured and crunch crust. Don't even bother cutting it with a knife and fork - it is not made to demonstrate table manners, only to fill an empty stomach.

Anyway, whether you like it or not, you can only tear it apart by pulling with your teeth like a lion tearing pieces of meat from its dead prey.

In summer, Maria says that they turn out about 150 pizzas every day. She and her husband took over the bakery some 37 years ago. Baking only bread at first, they moved on to pizza when customers started to ask for it.

But the popularity of the pizza soared from about 14 years ago, and it is still growing today. Besides Tal-Maxokk, there are another two bakers in the town of Nadur, who make the same pizzas, though in fewer numbers.

Who eats the Gozitan pizza? "Everyone does!" quickly smiles Grace: "We get English, Germans, Italian, Maltese and people from all corners of Gozo."

You must order your ftira about two hour before it would be cooked - either by phoning the bakery or by going there.

But don't be surprised if you turn up and leave empty-handed. "Sometimes we forget an order," admits Grace sheepishly. "Or we put the wrong ingredients in. Of course, most customers do not complain; they even wait outside until we finish their pizzas." Grace smiles wickedly then shrugs and adds: "They always come back so they don't really mind, do they?" There are other surprised for the unwary observer. 

All of a sudden, there is a rapid series of shots which sound like a shotgun. Blood drains from everyone's face, they stiffen as if they were made out of wax. Looking around Grace roars with laughter. What were those shots? She explains, "Those were a couple of aubergines we put in the oven to bake. Sometimes they blow up."

What makes the pizza work, besides its taste, is the tradition behind it. After turning our tastes to European dishes, mostly Italian, we are rediscovering that Maltese cuisine is both good and nutritional. "Our customers like our pizza because it is traditional and it is cooked naturally with wood, rather than gas," explains Maria.

"We are too old now and we want to retire," Maria says in a clipped voice, "I'm hoping one of my children would take over!"