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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