Head baker and manager Ben Tock of Bricco Panetteria in Boston's North End. (Photo by Mark Micheli)
I wrote a story for the Boston Globe about a North End bakery that specializes in old world Italian bread.
I thought a Globe photographer was scheduled to take photos at the same time I was at the bakery. When he didn’t show up, I took back-up photos.
Later, I found out he came and took the photos at another time. Those photos were used to accompany the article. I hate to waste anything, so I’m sharing some of the photos I took here. Surprisingly the one taken by the Globe and used with the article is nearly identical to one of the photos I took (above).
By Mark Micheli Boston Globe Correspondent
The ingredients (as noted in the sign) are what sets this bread apart from others made in the U.S. (Photo by Mark Micheli)
From the moment you turn off busy Hanover Street in the North End and into the alley, you know you’re in for a treat. A sign reading “Fresh Artisan Breads ” hangs on an old fire escape. Open the glass door at the end of the lane and the heady smell of fermenting yeast and flour rises up the stairs. Who knew a trip to a bakery could end up being a five-minute escape to Europe?
Restaurateur and North End resident Frank DePasquale opened Bricco Panetteria about a year ago to supply handmade Italian and French breads to his eateries. The tiny bakery is located in an alley behind Bricco. “I really didn’t think people were going to find it,” says DePas-quale, owner of Trattoria Il Panino, Mare Oyster Bar, Umbria Prime, Bricco Ristorante & Enoteca, and the new Quattro Ristorante-Grill-Pizzeria. “It’s almost like the traditions in Italy or France, where you go down an alley and find a little hidden secret.”
People are finding it. Once inside, you head down a flight of stairs and see one or two bakers working in a small white-tiled room. They’re rolling dough, pulling bread from the ovens, or stacking loaves on a large rack. Head baker and manager Ben Tock, 23, is making 1,300 loaves “on a good day,” he says. The Johnson and Wales grad worked at Au Soleil, the catering arm of L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre.
All of the breads are made by hand, following old world practices and recipes developed by Tock. (Photo by Mark Micheli)
Breads include ciabatta, a French sourdough miche, which is a puffy round, a baguette stuffed with Parmigiano and prosciutto, and the best-selling olive baguette. All have a crisp crust with a little char and lots of holes in the crumb, like you’d find in an Old World bakery. That was what DePasquale had in mind: to bring back the bread he enjoys on frequent trips to Italy.
“It’s very different,” says Michele Topor, who runs Boston Food Tours and has lived in the North End for more than 40 years. “The bread stores we’ve had are great, but they’re more Italian-American. This is more authentic, very flavorful, more airy and chewy.”“We use unbleached, unbromated flour, which is hard to come by,” Tock says. The baker also uses some white, silky 00 Italian flour. “We don’t use any additives or preservatives. And there’s no added sugar.”
Tock explains that breads are made with preferments, using a piece of dough that has fermented for 12 to 18 hours before mixing it with more flour, water, and salt to make a final dough. Because of this, all the breads take between 18 to 36 hours to make. “This fermentation allows for more development of flavor,” he says. “It allows us to get the nice texture, the crumb.”
Getting to this point took time. Before the store opened, Tock worked on the recipes to get them just right. Some of the breads took only a week or two, but others, like the French sourdough miche, took two months to perfect.
“The processes are old methods, but the way I do it down there is my way.”
Bricco Panetteria 241 Hanover St. (rear), North End, Boston. 617-248-9859,www.bricco.com.
A few of these recipes are misfits, but still very good.
There are some foods I make every year around Christmastime. They are tried and true classics that continue to make taste buds happy year after year. And each year, I also try some new recipes. Some stick and become a classic, others fade away either because they didn’t deliver on their promise or simply because of neglect: like a broken doll on the Island of Misfit Toys in the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” TV special.
Here are a list of winning recipes. Most I make every year. But there are a few neglected misfits too that are worthy of a new chance in a New Year. We’ll start with the desserts because this time of year is so sweet:
DESSERTS:
Chocolate Bread is more of a snack than a dessert but anytime you eat it, it's delicious.
1.) Pane alla Cioccolata (Chocolate Bread): This lightly sweetened bread is great with a cup of coffee or a glass of red wine. You can spread cream cheese over it, but Mascarpone cheese is better.
2.) Chocolate Bark (Christmas Gift): The only thing that would be easier than making this sweet treat would be going out and buying it.
3.) Cenci (Florentine Rags): Cenci are a deep-fried Florentine winter treat, made from Epiphany to Mardi Gras.
4.) Christmas Befana Cookies: My grandmother, Bruna, made these Befana cookies every Christmas.
5.) Chocolate Kahlua Rum Balls: Another quick and easy treat to make. Makes a good gift too.
APPETIZERS:
Ribollita is a hearty soup for a cold December day.
6.) Ribollita Soup: One of the most loved recipes in the RootsLiving collection. Who knew, Tuscan Bean Soup, would be such a crowd pleaser?
7.) Asian Shrimp Salad: Trish found this recipe in an old cookbook a previous tenant left in her apartment about 30 years ago. It has become a traditional Christmas Day appetizer.
SIDE DISH:
8.) Nan’s Mashed Potatoes (with Cream Cheese and Sour Cream): No Christmas Roast Beast would be complete without a side dish of this. It puts the “comfort” in comfort food.
ENTREES:
Shrimp Saute can be served as an appetizer or as the main dish.
9.) Shrimp Saute (For the New Year): I made this for the first time last year, but it’s a keeper. From Joshua’s Restaurant in Wells, Maine.
10.) Best Lobster Stew Recipe, Ever!: The recipe is from Morrison’s of Portland, Maine. It’s even easier to make if you have your lobsters steamed when you buy them.
11.) Pizza: Cheese and Fig & Proscuitto (from Figs Restaurant): My grandmother made pizza every Christmas Eve. This recipe is a combination of her pizza, Julia Child’s pizza, and Todd English’s pizza.
12.) Breakfast for Dinner: Gingerbread Pancakes: In these last, short, dark days of December sometimes it’s nice to stay in your pajamas all day and have breakfast for dinner. Here’s a suggestion in keeping with the holiday spirit.
This is a perfect dish to welcome fall in New England.
You can add many things to risotto but mushrooms (especially porcini) are my favorite. I made this dish up last night with vegetables I had on hand: crimini mushrooms and eggplant. Feel free to omit the eggplant, it’s just as good.
Making risotto is not hard, but it is an art. The key is adding small amounts of liquid to the rice, only enough for it to be absorbed a minute or two at a time. This ensures the dish will be not only flavorful but will have the correct texture: think al dente (with a little bite); never soggy or water-logged.
And of course, the main thing you do, is stir, baby, stir. (Tip: Be sure to scrape the bottom of the pan while stirring and lower the heat if you think the liquid is evaporating too fast or if there is a danger of the rice burning.)
Ingredients:
What I did:
Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pot over low heat. Add diced onion and cook until translucent. Add rice and stir. Add more olive oil if needed, just enough to coat the rice. Cook for a minute or two, stirring occasionally. Ladle in the liquid, just enough to cover the rice and stir. When liquid is absorbed, add more liquid, just enough to cover and stir. Continue doing this until risotto is done (about 45 minutes). In between stirring the risotto, coat a cookie sheet with olive oil and salt (kosher is best). Put down a layer of eggplant and brush tops of eggplant slices with oil and salt. Bake in a 400-degree oven, turning over when bottom is brown. Do the same with the mushrooms. Add nepitella to the cooked mushrooms and set aside. When risotto is done. Stir in eggplant and mushrooms. Stir in butter and parmesan cheese. Add pepper to taste.
Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pot over low heat. Add diced onion and cook until translucent.
Add rice and stir. Add more olive oil if needed, just enough to coat the rice. Cook for a minute or two, stirring occasionally.
Ladle in the liquid, just enough to cover the rice and stir. When liquid is absorbed, add more liquid, just enough to cover and stir. Continue doing this until risotto is done (about 45 minutes).
In between stirring the risotto, coat a cookie sheet with olive oil and salt (kosher is best). Put down a layer of eggplant and brush tops of eggplant slices with oil and salt. Bake in a 400-degree oven, turning over when bottom is brown. Do the same with the mushrooms. Add nepitella to the cooked mushrooms and set aside.
When risotto is done. Stir in eggplant and mushrooms. Stir in butter and parmesan cheese. Add pepper to taste.
This dish takes about 45 minutes to make if you work fast. Add another 15-minutes to 30 minutes if you work at a leisurely pace.
You can serve this as a main meal (serves four) with a side salad; or as a side dish. And if you’re out to impress, try serving it as a side-dish inside a parmesan basket.
Find more recipes in the Food section.
This makes a great first course or can be served as a side dish.
Here’s another recipe from La Zucca Magica, an Italian vegetarian restaurant in Nice.
We were served this as our first course and although I couldn’t find the exact recipe online I was able to recreate it perfectly: mainly because the potato mixture was very similar to a potato cake my grandmother used to make.
It’s one of my favorite dishes. To make it just follow the Torta d’Patata recipe here, but omit the swiss chard. They don’t use swiss chard in this dish at La Zucca Magica, according to the chef there. And instead of spreading it out into a thin layer on a cookie sheet, put the potato mixture in a greased oven-safe bowl and bake at 350 degrees until the top is lightly golden (or about 20 minutes).
For the tomato sauce, follow the Quick Tomato Sauce recipe here.
To serve, scoop out a large ball of the potato mixture and place it in the center of a small plate or soup bowl. Put a ring of the tomato sauce around the potato ball. Serve warm.
This flavorful dish is easy to make on a weeknight.
I made this one up Monday night with ingredients I had on hand. It was quick and easy to make and very garlicky. In other words, it’s a healthy dish.
Put the cutlets between two pieces of wax paper and beat them with a rolling pin until flat and thin. Put the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Dip the cutlets in the bowl, covering them with the oil mixture. Fry the cutlets in a little olive oil in a saute pan until done (about 30 seconds on each side). Don’t overcook.
Put the cutlets between two pieces of wax paper and beat them with a rolling pin until flat and thin.
Put the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Dip the cutlets in the bowl, covering them with the oil mixture.
Fry the cutlets in a little olive oil in a saute pan until done (about 30 seconds on each side). Don’t overcook.
Serve with rice or a mushroom risotto and a side salad. Serves four.
Roasted eggplant tastes great, is low-calorie and can be used in a variety of dishes.
I improvised this dish one night using ingredients I had on hand. The taste is savory, sweet, and comforting. And it’s something that can be whipped up in about half an hour.
Wash and peel the eggplant vertically, leaving vertical, purple stripes. Cut thin (About 1/4 of an inch) round disks of the eggplant. Brush on olive oil and salt on both sides. Bake in a 400-degree oven on a cookie sheet. Brown on one side and then turn over. This should take about 15 minutes for each tray of eggplant. Set aside. Mix cream cheese into cooked mushrooms. Top an eggplant slice with a couple of tablespoons of the mushroom mixture. Top this with a few slices of sun-dried tomatoes in oil. And then top that with a few leaves of arugula. And top it all off with another slice of eggplant.
Wash and peel the eggplant vertically, leaving vertical, purple stripes.
Cut thin (About 1/4 of an inch) round disks of the eggplant.
Brush on olive oil and salt on both sides. Bake in a 400-degree oven on a cookie sheet. Brown on one side and then turn over. This should take about 15 minutes for each tray of eggplant. Set aside.
Mix cream cheese into cooked mushrooms.
Top an eggplant slice with a couple of tablespoons of the mushroom mixture.
Top this with a few slices of sun-dried tomatoes in oil. And then top that with a few leaves of arugula. And top it all off with another slice of eggplant.
You can serve it as is, or heat it up in a hot oven for just a minute before serving.
Serve this with roasted broccoli or other roasted vegetables if you wish to make dinner a total vegetarian treat.
