@ossobuco,
2 1/2 years later, I scanned the photo of the sardinian bread I had been remembering.
It was in a magazine called Il Vino. (There are more of the photos, all quite wonderful.
The article, The Bread of Sardinia, was written by Gilberto Arru, photographs by Fabio Simion. I have no idea what year this magazine issue was put out, likely in the early nineties.