Focaccia Materana (Matera Style Focaccia) Focaccia materana is a bread baker's focaccia, not a soft pan of oil and dimples. It is made from the durum semolina dough of pane di Matera, pressed flat and sent into an oven at full heat. The crumb is deep gold and open, the edges crackle, and the bite is firm enough to carry tomato, oregano and olive oil without collapsing. Here the dough is the dish and the topping is only its seasoning. This version rebuilds it for a home oven,

Cialledda Materana (Matera Bread Salad) Cialledda is what Matera does with bread that has outlived its first life. A thick crusted durum wheat loaf, torn and briefly soaked, meets ripe tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, basil, oregano and generous olive oil, and becomes a cool, sharp, deeply satisfying summer plate. Nothing here is cooked. The whole dish depends on the bread, and on what you do to it in the first two minutes. Yield: 4 servings. Prep: 25 minutes. Rest: 20 minutes.

Sospiri Lucani (Italian Lucanian Filled Sponge Cakes) A sospiro is a small dome of pan di Spagna the size of an apricot, split, moistened with lemon syrup, filled with lemon pastry cream and coated in a matte white glaze. It offers almost no resistance: the shell cracks, the sponge collapses and the cream arrives. Basilicata makes them for weddings, and a recipe of eggs, sugar, flour, milk and lemon has nowhere to hide a mistake. Yield: 16 sospiri, 8 servings of 2. Work: abou