[Ninja Baker] Romance and Reality: Panificio Antonioni, Tavernelle, Italy

[Ninja Baker]

While stalking the secrets of splendid cuisine, the Ninja Baker’s intent is to provide levity and fun food stories.  However, in light of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I feel compelled to provide opportunities to donate and assist relief efforts.  Please click on this link to a 11 March 2011 USA Today article citing different organizations committed to helping the Japanese.

For those who are tech savvy, click on. For the rest of us: When you see a highlighted word or sentence such as USA Today, you have the opportunity to click that line and be transported to another web site. (Where you can donate, watch a video, see a recipe, etc.)

Also, if so moved, please donate to the American Humane Association, which is dedicated to animal rescue.

My safe, spoiled American kitties.

The Japanese American community here in Southern California is sure to step forward.  And the ballroom dance class that my husband and I attend are sure to participate. The lessons are held at a Japanese Buddhist temple and sometimes in the local Japanese community center.

The organizers of the class, Joe and Dianne Belli are very involved with the Japanese American community and were both past presidents of the temple. Both Joe and Dianne hold key positions in their corporate jobs but find time to produce gourmet cuisine. (Dianne thinks making Julia Child's boeuf bourguinon is easy.) Although Diane is of Japanese heritage, she and Joe consider their family specialty to be pizza.No doubt influenced by Joe’s Italian heritage and a tradition started by his father.More about the tradition later. 

First, a report of the Bellis' family trip to visit Joe’s relatives in Tavernelle, Italy. A highlight of the journey included working alongside cousins, Georgio and Andrea, who own and run Panificio Antonionio (Antonionio Bakery.)  

Romance and Reality: Panificio Antonioni, Tavernelle, Italy

In a land where the primary language is pasta, the lines of romance and reality blur. Tucked away ten miles inland from the Adriatic Sea is the town of Tavernelle. An arch built by Augustus in 2 AD on the once dusty Road to Rome survives in the neighboring resort town of Fano. Swerving traffic on the now paved pathway, the Panificio Antonionio van from Tavernelle transports fresh-out-of the oven breads to the tourists who frequent the Fano hotels and shops. Visiting royalty (or wanna-bes flush with casino winnings) from nearby Monaco may also munch a baguette from the Tavernelle bakery.

Panificio Antonionio baguette

In 1923, at age 13, standing by a roadside brick oven, Guido Antonionio started selling bread. Translating family traditions into a commercial venture, Guido’s son, Georgio runs the business today.  Georgio’s first born, Andrea, works alongside his father in the three-story panificio.  Even though tons of flour are moved and mixed with butter in machines, the products are still placed into the ovens with old-fashioned wooden paddles. Technology and prosperity have entered the Italian bakery.  But Guido’s great-nephew, Joe Belli swears you can still taste the love poured into each loaf.  

Georgio and Andrea Antonioni

The family farm in Tavernelle, Italy

Family reunion photo in front of the Panificio Antonionio

Joe and Dianne Belli traveled to Tavernelle, Italy last summer with their two grown-up children for the first time. Asked if he and the family felt awkward meeting their cousins for the first time, Joe replied, “It was an unbelievable experience. Not awkward at all. The Antonionios were so welcoming. Language was only a slight barrier.”

In fact, Joe jumped right into the bakery business. 

Allesandra and Georgio Antonionio with Joe Belli in the middle.

A standard gorgeous loaf of Panificio Antonionio bread.

Cakes are also popular Panificio Antonionio items.

An assortment of bakery items sold at the Panificio Antonionio in Tavernelle, Italy.

In Mr. Belli's words:

"The bakery started work at 12:00 midnight.  That first baking shift worked until about 9:00am.  Although I offered to start my shift at midnight too, I was asked to arrive at 1:30am.  I am sure that was so the crew of 3 could get a head start."

   

Perfection on a plate courtesy of the Panificio Antonionio.

"I also helped make croissants.  Once we made the croissant dough, we sent the dough through a machine that rolled the dough out.  We then put the croissant dough into another rolling machine that formed the actual croissants.  During my shift we made about 300 croissants.  I was not involved in the pizza making, although that is one of my specialties. "

The Bread Making Process

By Joe Belli

1.     We mixed approximately 100 lbs. of flour at a time in an automatic mixer.

2.    The mixer had a hydraulic lift that dumped the dough into another machine…The hydraulic system worked much like a dump truck operates.

3.    The machine we dumped the dough into is a cutter that creates 2 lbs. loaves.

4.    We then placed approximately 15 loaves on a 1” x 12” x 96” long plank.

5.    The planks containing the loaves were put into a raising room so the dough could raise.

6.    We then transferred the uncooked loaves to a 96” long wood spatula and then put the loaves into the oven.

7.    The oven cooked approximately 300 loaves at a time.

8.    Once the loaves were cooked they were placed into large baskets for delivery or put into the front of the bakery for sale.

Panificio Antonionio rolls

Braided bread fromPanificio Antonionio

Thank's to Joe's description of the bread making process, I’m convinced the yeasty, buttery aromas emanating from the Panificio Antonioni must be awesome. Perhaps the loving spirit of patriarch Guido guides the bakers. 

Joe Belli with cousins Georgio and Allesandra Antonionio.

The presence of the Bellis in America is thanks to the patriarch's sister, Maria Tina. Guido's sister and her husband Nazareno Belli and four-year-old son Dino went through Ellis Island to join the "huddled masses." They ended up in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. There, Nazareno worked with a tool manufacturer. He often walked to save five cents bus fare! True to his heritage, he also tilled a small plot of land. Canning the produce for the bitter winters.

Son Dino grew up and inherited his father’s carpentry skills. As an enlisted navy man, posted in San Diego, he served the US military as a pattern maker in WWII.

Dino moved to Venice California, where his second son, Joe Belli also inherited the carpentry skills. Joe put the skills to good use helping the Eagle Scouts at the Japanese Buddhist temple where he and Diane run the ballroom dance class...And that is where I learned of the Belli tradition referred to earlier. While fox-trotting around the room Joe spoke fondly of the weekly Sunday supper made by his father. Pizza! Apparently, Joe and his siblings savored their father's Southern Italian-style pizza topped with cheddar cheese.

Before the trip to Tavernelle, pizza was understandbly Joe's speciality. Given his time at the Panificio Antonionio, Joe may be adding Italian breadmaking to the list of traditional family recipes.

Joe Belli dancing the night away with wife, Dianne in Tavernelle

An Italian dancing party with Joe and Dianne Belli in the foreground.

Wishing you and yours loving traditions.

The Ninja Baker

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Posted By Ninja Baker to Ninja Baker at 3/13/2011 03:43:00 AM