Original Ultner Brot, the rye "paarl" from the Ultental Valley
Original Ultner Brot is a rye flatbread from South Tyrol's Ultental Valley, baked with pure natural sourdough in a stone oven. Two small, dense loaves, seasoned with caraway, fennel, and blue fenugreek – a classic for "Marende" (snack), not industrial rye from a store shelf.
Original Ultner Brot is the eponymous flatbread from the Schwienbacher bakery in St. Walburg in the Ultental Valley, closely related to the Vinschger Paarl. Each 440-gram pack contains two round loaves made from 100% Type 997 rye flour, seasoned with classic South Tyrolean blue fenugreek. This is the taste of alpine bread culture, just as the shepherds on the mountain pastures once knew it.
Dark crust, moist crumb, plenty of spice
Hearty, spicy, and rustic—that is the rye bread from the stone oven. Dark and firm on the outside, moist and dense on the inside; a flatbread with character that offers a good bite and feels pleasantly compact in the hand.
Caraway, fennel, and blue fenugreek provide its typical South Tyrolean spice—that slightly bitter, warm note you won't find in any other bread landscape. Blue fenugreek, also known as "Schabziger Klee" in the valleys, is the herb that gives the rye its special depth. The natural sourdough keeps the crumb moist for days, and fresh from the oven, it smells of grain, anise, and mountain summer.
The steady anchor of every South Tyrolean Marende
For the Marende, the hearty South Tyrolean snack, Ultner Brot is as essential as crispy Schüttelbrot.
Sliced, it pairs perfectly with South Tyrolean Speck, Kaminwurzen (smoked sausage), and a strong mountain cheese, accompanied by a glass of Vernatsch wine or an herbal tea from the Dolomites. It is also excellent with butter and apricot jam, morning or evening. This dense rye bread has always been a staple for shepherds and farmers; it keeps for days and tastes almost better on the second day.
It is related to the Vinschgauer, that flat rye "paarl" from the neighboring valley, simply called "Vinschgerl" in South Tyrol. Two loaves are baked together and can be pulled apart in the middle, hence the word "Paarl," a bread pair.
Baked in St. Walburg since 1919
Original Ultner Brot is baked at the Schwienbacher bakery, which has stood in the village center of St. Walburg since 1919.
Master baker Hannes Schwienbacher runs the house today in the fourth generation, founded in 1919 by his great-grandmother Maria Pircher-Schwienbacher as a small bakery at the Eggwirt. It was his father, Richard, who in 1982 became one of the first in the valley to convert the bakery to organic production. "Bread and Love since 1919" is the motto that Hannes, now head of the South Tyrolean Bakers' Guild, carries throughout the valley today.
Why rye of all things? At over 1,000 meters, wheat struggles, while hardy rye thrives in the cool mountain climate. That is why the Ultental has been rye country for generations. The rye grows at the Wegleithof farm above the village, it has been milled in their own mill since 1982, and the water springs from the mountains around them at 1,600 meters.
The bread is delivered to you frozen so that it stays as fresh as the moment it left the stone oven. Five minutes at 180 degrees Celsius, and the crust is as crispy as it was on the first day. A good rye bread needs nothing more. You can find the entire Ultner Brot assortment with us, from Vinschger Paarl to hearty power bread.
