I Can Walk to 5 Bakeries in 5 Minutes - And They're All Good!
Loads of people around the world have revitalized the art of baking bread. COVID forced them to think more carefully about their diets. Being locked-down gave them an opportunity to try their hand at baking something from scratch. I think this is wonderful. There’s nothing like home made bread.
I used to do a lot of baking before we moved to Italy. I would often bake bread a couple if times a week in the winter. I also baked, focaccia, cookies and cakes. Since arriving here, I haven’t felt the need to bake because really good baked goods are commonplace. There’s a bakery (panetteria) a 1-minute walk from our apartment here in Foligno. There are 4 other very good bakeries another 4 minutes away by foot. Basically, I have no need to do any baking!
Since Virginia and I have been working from home, I often prepare really simple lunches that include bread from a couple of my favorite bakers. Here are some pictures!
These are various “rotondi” or round breads. They’re basically small pizzas. This particular bakery offers breads made from whole wheat and other grains. This picture includes bread topped with simple tomato sauce, rosemary, onions and grapes (at the top).
Oh, this focaccia topped with caramelized onions is heaven on earth! Foligno lies about 10 miles from a little town named Cannara which is famous for its production of sweet onions. The onions on this bread are sweet and luscious!!!!
It’s hard for me to describe just how good this bread is.
Italians are masters at taking simple foods and turning them into sublime masterpieces. The bread above was topped with freshly harvested grapes. That’s it. They didn’t add any fancy sauce or glaze. In the baking process, the grapes liberated their juices into the dough making this a sweet and savory delight!
Tu sei molto fortunato! This all looks delicious, yes I started baking bread during the quarantine and it is good. But it doesn’t quite compare to bakeries in Italy!