‘If you want to make good continental bakery products, first your ingredients have to be the best and then the mix must be developed correctly. If these two are not right, you’re stuffed!’ This was the first very forthright lesson in making good Italian ciabatta and focaccia from a man who should know.
Many bakers in the UK would give their eye-teeth for the range of modern equipment in the bakery which includes three Bongard NSE automatic spiral mixers supplied by MONO. The mixers have 60, 200 and 250 kg dough capacities respectively, and will store up to nine mix programs in the automatic function of their controllers. With two belt-driven, programmable, forward speeds and single reverse speed to both the spiral and bowl drives, together with manual override, and all electric parts sealed against penetration by water, dust and flour, the mixers were of the quality that the Ciabatta Bread Company were looking for. “What clinched the deal”, said John, “is that these mixers could be supplied constructed almost entirely in stainless steel. I don’t want paint finishes in my bakery for obvious health and safety reasons.”
An oasis of excellence...
The panificio fronting the bakery really is an oasis of excellence in a district which is otherwise a desert of retailing mediocrity.
An impressive display of wines, coffees and other deli items such as mushrooms in olive oil with garlic and fresh chilli, or grilled aubergine in olive oil, really do stir the appetite.
Try a loaded focaccia …
But it is the finished product from the bakery that excites the taste buds. Try a focaccia loaded with fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, anchovies, and basil in olive oil. If that filling is not quite to your taste what about fennel salami, peppers, sun-dried tomato, mozzarella cheese, and basil in olive oil. Any of these dishes, and many more, can be served toasted, together with a choice from a range fine Italian coffees.
ohn’s son Marcel who manages the shop explained a little more about the business – “My father has created an up-market continental café atmosphere for the shop, but this is only a small part of the business. The Ciabatta Bread Company is essentially a wholesale business. We are located here because this is the best position for us to serve our customers throughout London. We make 15 types of continental bread products, 15 types of morning goods as well as a few tin and oven bottom breads. Daily we bake 15,000 individual products – that gives you an idea of the gradually increasing demand for this type of specialist product.”
A business with attitude
“But the real secret of our success”, continued Mirelle Riccio, John’s daughter and a company director, “has been my father’s instance on quality. Quality shop-fittings; quality production equipment, such as our recently installed spiral mixers; and a quality end product. I’ve seen him order that a whole batch of croissant be scrapped because it wasn’t quite up to his high standards – that keeps everyone here on their toes and it keeps our customers happy.”
