Today I met with chef Berthemier at Maison Pozzoli and was
introduced to Monsieur and Madame Pozzoli as well as their son, Alexander. Chef
Berthemier and Monsieur Pozzoli are really good friends, both of them being MOF
Boulangers as well. I got shown around the boulangerie and saw loads of
machines that I’ve never even seen before, like machines that shape baguettes
once the dough is divided as in terms of quantity alone, they produce 450
(quatre san cinquante) pain de tradition baguettes. They also produce a wide
variety of small breads (I saw a fig and honey one) and various other loaves.
There is a separate section in the back where the patisserie
is produced and there are also loads of proving boxes (chambre de fermentation)
where the doughs are fermented overnight. They also have a machine that
produces the levain
that is used in almost all of their breads. It has a capacity for 45kg of
levain....45kg. Each day they add more flour and water and the machine mixes it
and regulates the temperature and humidity. I tasted some of the levain and it
had a really smooth acidic flavour and a slightly sweet undertone.
The shop is in a really old building, it has these huge
stone blocks in the wall and just feels old; there is even a wood fired oven
but unfortunately they don’t use it as I think people complained about the
smoke. They have a 5 deck oven for the breads and I watched Mr Pozzoli for a
while as he loaded and scored the baguettes...that guy is insanely fast. He comes from a family of 4 generations of
chefs with himself and Alexander being 2 generations of bakers.
I start at 3am on Monday, so I will need to wake up before
2am as there is no public transport that runs at that time...back to the good
old days!
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