STIR THE POTS

Brioche au levain (Foolish Poolish)

My efforts at making a Provencal rendition of a Roscon de Reyes or kings cake to celebrate the epiphany ironically fell on the historically important day of January 6th, it was confusing. At least this last effort was a good result to diminish the grey haze of political morass. And coming off a recent whole grain transition class I used a  Yecora flour to inoculate the Levain. This formula I found from  the long gone  and missed blogger Foolish Poolish on The Fresh Loaf’s archives and it's one hundred percent levain too..

Pierluigi Mazzella

 

Pierluigi Mazzella grew up on Italy's island of Ischia, which lies just off the coast of Naples. His father worked as a fisherman. Pierluigi followed a different craft, falling in love with baking. After several apprenticeships in Italy, Pierluigi made his way to America. In the last few years, he opened Fatto A Mano, a micro-bakery that sells everything from panettone to sourdough specialties at markets around southern Connecticut. I was intrigued by a profile of him appearing in Bread Lines, a piece that highlighted his passion for panettone. Leaving some comments on the website, we ended up corresponding with Pierluigi offering generous encouragement to me with my own attempts at home-made panettone. Now he has agreed to come share his thoughts and life on Stir the Pots.

How did you become a bread baker?

Bread and food in general is a main part of life in Italy. Even before starting my career, I was always interested in food. I started as a Pizzaiolo when I was 16-years old. High schools in Italy are like vocational/trade schools where you have to choose a career-specific path to follow, so I did the culinary route and went to a culinary-focused school. While learning and working as a pizzaiolo in Neapolitan pizzerias, I fell in love with the art of fermentation. I decided to take classes for fermented foods like kombucha, kefir, fermented vegetables, etc. Then, I took what I had learned from those classes and used it with baking, making pizza dough out of kefir water. This interest evolved into the desire to learn about sourdough breads. I was reading books about sourdough constantly. I even volunteered to work at a small artisanal bakery in my town in Ischia just to get to work with it hands on. From there, bread making became part of my everyday routine, making it fresh for my family to have for lunch and dinner. My thirst for knowledge didn't stop with the fermentation of bread doughs, but also into the sweet stuff. This is when panettone became my new obsession.

Is panettone a luxury and not quite a sustainable bread?

This depends on who you ask. If you ask a person that eats to live, they may say that panettone is expensive. For me though, I live to eat! I will always pay more for food that is worth it! Even if food in Ischia is cheaper compared to the US, I still always splurged and got the best panettone for the holidays. Just like with any "luxury" item, there will always be cheaper and fraudulent versions. You can find factory made panettone both here and in Italy for super cheap but there is no art or passion in that product. Though the artisanal panettone may be expensive, it earns the price because of the multiple days of hard labor and high quality ingredients. This is a product that only a select amount of bakers have successfully made!

How did you come to America and especially Monroe?

I came here by myself.. all my family is still living in Ischia. I have a son (9 yrs old) and he lives with his mother in Toronto. So the main reason to come to the United States was to get as close as possible to him.
Also I have friends in Connecticut that are from my island. They hosted me for a few weeks so I could have figure out how to stay here.. Luckily I was sponsored by an Italian restaurant in Bridgeport. I would have to work in the kitchen but mainly making Neapolitan style pizza.. so I spent one-year with a working visa before meeting the woman that’s also my wife today!

My younger brother just finished his culinary school program and is now working in a pastry shop.
He will definitely take over the baking and eventually move here to create something with me. 

In Ischia, is there a mythology of its sourdough?

While there is mythology for other things in Ischia, such as the thermal and healing waters, sourdough is not one of them. Ischia follows the traditions of Naples when it comes to bread and pizza. Most of the history of food and bread in the area was created due to poverty. The neapolitans created recipes that were resourceful by using the ingredients that were ready and accessible, as well as making sure to take advantage of all parts and before they went bad.

Can your describe a bread that identifies with Naples?

Pane cafone is born in Naples. It’s a type of bread baked in the old masonry wood fired oven and it’s mainly made with Lievito madre or “criscito” (a part of old dough).It’s weight is about 1kg-1.5kg (2.2-3.30 pounds).
The crust is quite thick (allowing to hold the humidity longer) and the crumb very light and tender with regular alveoli (a sorta of the country sourdough but shaped into a rustic way).
The most interesting thing to know about this bread, is that Neapolitan people love the 2 ending parts of it. We call it “O’ CUZZETIELL.” The ends of the bread with their crunchy crumb are the shape of a cone perfect to dip it into the pot of “ragù or tomato sauce.”

 

 

Are you 100 percent sourdough for all your breads or do you mix in some dry or fresh yeast?

First, it depends on the product being made. I think that yeast is my friend and I do not consider it to be a bad addition to some products. For example, the authentic neapolitan verace pizza is made only with fresh yeast. Same for some traditional breads and pastries. Sometimes I use a preferment or hybrid method for baguettes or ciabatta. I believe that you can achieve a fantastic product even with commercial yeast as long as you respect the fermentation. On the contrary, I still love sourdough for its health benefits.

 

What is the difference or similarity in the steps of pizza and bread?

Bread and pizza doughs are siblings. Their ingredients are similar, yet the procedure is somewhat different. They should both be fermented properly, without any additives. I use fresh yeast for pizza but sourdough for bread. My pizza dough has a lower hydration and higher salt percentage compared to bread. Usually, the bake temperature for pizza (850F) is much higher than for bread (480F), and it also cooks in less time (traditionally less than 90 seconds). 

 

Did you work in bakeries in Italy?

Yes, after moving from pizza to bread, I worked in a few small bakeries in my town. This led me to an apprenticeship with the panettone world champion of 2019, where my panettone journey began!

 

What difference do you see in baking in the United States, flour types, management of doughs, fermentation?

In the United States, the flour is much higher in protein compared to Italy. Because of this, you have to increase the hydration. I prefer to use Italian wheat over American wheat because I find it more pure, but there are a few flour companies here that I work with and like. Dough management is pretty much the same. Fermentation depends on the environment and type of flour being used. Because Connecticut is colder and drier in the winter than Ischia, I needed a proofer that gave me control of the dough, whereas in Italy, I could leave the dough out at room temperature.

 

Panettone was said to be traditional for the Christmas season, but has become a popular all year bread, what is your opinion?

I believe that panettone is too special of a product to not have all year round. I crave it everyday no matter if it is Christmas or not. Of course, during the holidays, it is nostalgic for me but panettone is taking a modern turn, in a good way! The world is becoming more familiar with artisanal panettone and modern methods and I believe that these need to be seen!

 

You said you’re going to grow your laboratory space for production, describe micro baking and your transitioning?

When I first started my cottage bakery business from my home kitchen, I did not think that it would have gotten so popular so quickly. After just a few weeks, I realized I needed to get more equipment and supplies in order to keep up with the demand. Once I started doing panettone, it literally took over my whole house! I even had a pallet of flour delivered and my wife said that it was going to be my new bed! Micro-baking takes a lot of patience for everyone involved (my family). The most important thing is keeping the quality high, which is much easier to do when baking in small batches. I am excited to transition to a larger space for the main reason being space! It is very nerve wracking to work with a time-sensitive product when you don't have enough counter space, but I always manage to make it work. The most important part of the transition to a larger space will be making sure the quality is still at a high level, even if the batches are larger.

 

Are you primarily selling online and markets?

Up until the holidays in 2021, I was selling mostly online via my website and having customers pick up at my home. Once the holidays hit, I switched to pop-up events and markets in order to make it more fair for people to get panettone since the online sales were selling out in minutes! I was telling people to set alarms! For the future, I hope to be more event/market-based and also offer pre-orders.

 

How has the pandemic affected your business?

The pandemic has built my business! I began baking from home with a cottage food license as a side job last February. I started out by selling over social media to some local people in my town, and it blossomed from there! Word spread really fast and I upgraded to the website for bi-weekly sales. Soon people were not just coming from Monroe, but towns all over Connecticut!

 

Who inspires you?

My dad is my inspiration. From a young age, I always saw what a hard worker he was to provide for us. I used to go fishing with him to help out. Often when I am baking in the middle of the night, I feel like I am still with him out of the boat. I want to be to my future kids, what he was to me.

 

Favorite grain?

Einkorn wheat

 

Will you write a book?

Maybe one day!

How do you see the connections between your father's trade as a fisherman and what you do as a baker?

Both of these are ancient and artisanal jobs. They are jobs that require true skill, strength, and a lot of passion. Without these three attributes, you wouldn't even last a day! A true fisherman uses their attention to detail, for example, to make and fix their own fishing nets and lines. Bakers do the same when having to adjust a formula if something has changed in the environment or ingredients. Also, neither of us sleep at night. But most importantly, both jobs focus on the purity and simplicity of what we eat! 

Whole Grain Transition Class

With some time off from work, I took a class offered by the Bread Bakers Guild of America. Taught by Craig Ponsford, the class was focused on whole grain baking. It was conducted on Zoom and brought in 16 other students, from beginner to more advanced bakers. For me, the course highlight focused on guidelines to "desired dough temperatures." I'd encourage others to take Craig Ponsford's courses, or other BBGA Master classes. They're great.

 

 

Moqueca

Moqueca is a Brazilian fish stew that has interested me but I had yet to experience. In one of the evenings during the holidays, I decided to give it a try in my home kitchen. It's a lovely tropical dish described in song by Gal Costa, a Bahian singer, here in her song Logus Pé

From the fish!

Head, I don't eat.

Try to treat soon with green lemon 

So as not to be surprised by the taste of moqueca.

Anyway, it made for a delicious evening.

 

Mock Mill

While I have a Komo mill at home, at work I was using an old mill attachment for my mixer. A few weeks ago, I decided to splurge and ordered a Mock Mill 100 from Breadtopia, the company's American distributor. On arrival, the hopper broke and calibration issues abounded. The company sent me a new hopper. Then while reading instructions (and keeping my crew away from it), I narrowed down the intricacies of it's settings and got it working. It turned out to be worth the money. It's a great product with no overheating and small enough to keep on my work table near my shaping bench.

 

 

 

Jacques Mahou (Boulanger) RIP

 

Photo Marc Danton

My former bread baking teacher Nick Greco sent an email to inform me of the death of a wonderful baker. Jacques Mahou was an artisianal boulanger from France's Loire region, more specifically the small village of Marray. I wasn't sure how to respond in a way that honors this man adequately. When traditional bakers from a passing era leave us, we lose more than words can describe. The best we have are any documents of their presence when alive. While we lose the gifts they offered us in life, we can treasure what they left behind. Take a look at any videos you can find of Mahou. Lucky we have YouTube. Here's a link to some that feature Mahou sharing great stories. Take a look.

Filippo Drago

Years ago, I  heard about a Sicilian miller using ancient grains to produce world class flour that yields first class breads. Later I had the chance to meet the man in New York, thanks to the Bronx-based Italian food importer Gustiamo who introduced me to Fillipo Drago. Then in the summer of 2015, I had a chance to visit Sicily and go to his mill, Molini Del Ponte in Castelveltrano. Since then we have reconnected whenever he visits New York for various food shows, among them the Fuori at Gustiamo's warehouse. Today he shares his story on Stir the Pots.

 

How did you become a miller?

I became a miller because I followed a passion of mine. My father's company was my playground for me as a child. My father has the merit of my great love for grains and flours.

What is the legacy of Sicilian Castelveltrano flour compared to that of the boot of Italy?

Sicily was the granary of Italy since the time of the Roman Empire. Even Charles V, his beautiful kingdom, the sun never set, they exported Sicilian wheat all over Europe.

Sicilian Flour brings with it all the scents of the island. Perfumes that are highlighted by the Natural stone milling. Castelvetrano flour differs from flours obtained with grains grown in other regions of Italy precisely because of its flavor. Bring with you all the wild herbs that grow together with the wheat. The wild herbs are: Dill - Wild fennel - sweet clover - wild artichoke - chamomile- and others.

What do the Temples of Selinunte do for you?

Temples are certainly a source of inspiration. I love walking among the tall columns and the narrow streets of ancient Selinunte and strolling in those places where the ancient Greeks cultivated the Tumminia they called Trimeniaios. This grain was already known in Greek times with the name τρεσ μηναιός (three months). Today we cultivate tumminia within the archaeological park as it did 2500 years ago.

What bread did you grow up eating?

As a child I ate both the Castelvetrano which they called wheat bread or the durum wheat semolina bread. With the re-milled semolina my grandmother also prepared pizza for us.

 

 

Is Sicily still the granary of Italy?

Sicily still produces a lot of wheat today, but Puglia is in first place. A lot of Sicilian durum wheat is still exported today but there are so many hectares left fallow around 200,000 hectares. Many jobs could be created if we went back to sowing as in the past.

How has climate change affected the types of grains of the ancient varieties you grow?

Climate change has not given problems to the cultivation of wheat in Sicily
But you should ask an expert for confirmation or a more in-depth answer.

 

Maiorca wheat, is it the same as the xeixa of the Balearic Islands in Spain because it is also used to produce a Pa Moreno (Black Bread)?

Maiorca wheat or mjorca is a type of ancient soft wheat with a fast ripening white grain, cultivated for centuries in Sicily especially in arid and marginal soils, it has always been considered as the synonym of soft wheat and its flour synonymous with flour for sweets. In the recipes of Sicilian desserts, in ancient times the flours 0 and 00 were not mentioned but they spoke exclusively of Mallorcan flour. With this flour, wafers, white breads, breadsticks are also made and sweets are produced, especially biscuits, such as the San Cataldo ciambelle, moreover, this flour is an ingredient in royal pasta. Historically the shell of the Sicilian cannoli was born with this ancient flour typical of the island tradition.I don't know anything else about Balearic wheat.

Do you prefer the stone mill or milling cylinders?

For grinding I love both mills. Each one has a characteristic. I love stone milling for perfumes and wholemeal flours. I love the grinding cylinders for the couscous and the re-milled semolina.

 

When did you found Primula verde?

Primo la verde  came from the desire to market the typical oil of my city of Castelvetrano
In 2015, I bought a farm with about 1200 Nocellara del Belìce cultivated plants
In 2017 the first bottle of green primrose was born. We harvest the olives by hand in October. Olives are ground the same day as the harvest.

Are you completely organic or organic?

Mostly we grind grains from organic farming. But in our process we also produce non-organic flours, it is essential that all the wheat comes from Sicily,that is, we do not grind foreign grains and we do not grind grains from other regions of Italy.

Will your other flours arrive in America, Perciasacchi, Rossello?

I will ask Beatrice Ughi to also import Percia Sacchi Rossello and other flours, both stone and cylinder, depends a lot on her entrepreneurial choices and on what her customers ask for.
the oil will already be present from this crop.

Is Senatore Capelli ancient wheat?

Senatore Cappelli is not a great ancient because it was born in the early 1900s from a cross of grains obtained by Strampelli. It did not exist before. Commercially, I define it as a wheat of the twentieth century in the flour line of the 900.

How has the pandemic affected your business?

The pandemic did not have a negative effect on my work, on the contrary, we increased sales because many made bread at home. Clearly the world of pizzerias and restaurants was completely at a standstill.

Do you bake bread?

Traditionally at home we have always prepared bread using a different flour from time to time today my favorite is Tumminia flour with Perciasacchi flour. At home I have a mixer with dipping arms, an electric oven and a wood-burning oven with direct heating.

What makes Sicily different from the rest of Italy?

What makes Sicily different from other regions of Italy and the world is the presence of over 50 varieties of local grains a unique climate is the sun that ripens the grain and does not favor the presence of aflatoxins and mycotoxins and the presence of spontaneous herbs that they uniquely identify all my work.

Who influences you?

My instinct and my creativity play a fundamental role but I participate in many fairs I meet many people and from these meetings new ideas and new projects are born
watching, observing and confronting each other is certainly a great source of inspiration for me. Imitate and be inspired but never copy.

New projects?

Our short-term projects will be a biscuit factory for the marketing of bakery products obtained exclusively with my flours and then the restoration of a room to give birth to a pizzeria-brewery at the same time complete the new grain reception and finally create another one for increase the storage capacity of the grain.

 

Chocolate Marshmallows

Visiting my sister in Switzerland, while shopping she introduced me to a local tradition. Actually, she whispered the name as it had started to create controversy for its racism. Basically they are chocolate marshmallows. Chocolate Heads (Mohrenkopf in Switzerland and in Germany) were  originally created in the 19th century. Now they've come under scrutiny for the name. Even the famed chocolatier, Läderach, has stopped selling them at our NYC branch. Their explanation was difficulty in packaging. Names aside, I missed them. So I made some at work. Here are some photos. Honestly, it inspired questions for me, whether we should forget the history that led to names of foods... or just ignore it and keep a questionable tradition?