“We are going to harvest tomorrow, the Emiliano and Lichtkorn are going off…” The day after I’m standing on familiar ground: the grain fields of the Novalishoeve, Texel. Farmer Meine takes me into the tractor. “I do not have a combine, but neighbor Piet does.” From the land Just like the whole summer, it is…
Bisciola: an alpine panettone
“Use your imagination to make me a sweet bread, even though we’re in the mountains…!” I think Napoleon’s order must have sounded something like that. The French warlord and his troups were in Northern Italy in 1797, taking over the Alps. Conquering countries was always accompanied by good food, his visit to the mountain valley…
Week course in Galica
The dough has been leavening all night, the wood oven is sizzling hot and the courtyard filles with the scent of bread, made from organic Spanish grains and sourdough… A perfume you’ll be meeting everyday during this course! Surrounded by hills, lakes and forests, this week we’ll discover the secret of real sourdough bread. I’ll…
Sun rays over the sea clay of Middenmeer
“Tomorrow they are going into the ground, beautiful weather, Vincent!” Low and high tide, current channels and screeming seagulls … On a sun-drenched Sunday afternoon the feeling is unreal, here used to be the regime of the sea. The First World War made it clear. Land was needed, land to provide the hungry population with…
Grain, dough and fire: workshop sourdough pizza at Fabbrica
On April 29, 2018, I was able to share my passion with 32 enthusiastic people from the North of Holland in a workshop about grain, sourdough, bread and pizza within the beautiful setting of Fabbrica. A blistering hot wood oven, beautiful dough of locally grown organic wheat and great people made it an unforgettable day….
Sicilian gold in Namur: Boulangerie Legrand
The harsh winter wind scours along the paving stones in hibernal Namur. Fortunately, we are almost there … A few minutes later I push the door open, after which a warm gust of sweet-scented grains envelops us: Tumminia, Rosello, Petit Épautre and Maiorca. Welcome to Boulangerie Legrand! Angela, the wife of baker Dominique, comes to my…
Alpine meadows, grains and fire in Trentino
It is the end of August and with the sun still high in the sky I sweep the sweat from my forehead heading towards Malga Castrin; a mountain hut high in the Dolomites of Trentino. A cow calmly watches me, ruminating enjoying the warm summer sun. Erika Maiss had apparently seen me coming from afar…
Baking with sun from Texel
This summer I walked over the grainfields on Texel with Meine Koopmans, organic farmer at the Novalishoeve. Emiliano spelt, lichtkorn rye, durum wheat. “Wait, durum wheat? Isn’t that a grain that thrives much better in warm climates?”, I look at Meine questioningly… “Yes, that’s what most people think. But why would the result here be bad?…
Pizza al farro: fusione di passione
Neapolitan pizza from organic spelt, grown and milled on wind in the North of Holland. This was the concept for a workshop that I gave in sourdough pizzeria El Flaco recently. The flames gently stroke over the dome of the wood oven. It looks calm, but looks are deceiving. In the oven the temperature is…
Muscle ball dough with almonds and apricots
Muscle ball dough … That was buzzing through my mind when I was making a number of testing doughs on a late Saturday evening in Maalderij de Gouden Engel. With the “Desem Atelier”, I find it fascinating to view the taste and strength of grains. One of the test doughs needed muscle balls to be…
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