About Me
My Story
Hello my name is Anthony D’Amelio. I’ve been fortunate enough in my carrier to travel and work in some of the finest restaurants / bakeries in New York City and Toulouse France at such a young age. I am a passionate Chef that enjoys pushing my comfort zone and working with new and exotic ingredients. Through this process I have been able to learn and expand as well as teach other with success. I truly enjoy teaching other and passing on my knowledge wherever I can. My true love for food comes from being raised in my Italian grandmother kitchen. She taught me to love and appreciate food in a way that sparked my imagination. She also taught me to not waste anything and to utilize the entire ingredient. Through all of this I will do my best to pass on all of my knowledge to you.
Sourdough Success
Sourdough - What is it?
Sourdough is a very tricky but rewarding thing to work with due to the fact that it is an actual living thing. It reacts to seasonal temperatures and the percentage of humidity in the air. Every day I enter the bakery and I have to check the humidity and temperature in the room to calculate for success. The most important ingredient in sourdough baking is the levain or leaven. The leaven is a culture of lactobacillus bacteria and yeast. The leaven is made up of two very simple ingredients, flour and water. These ingredients when mixed and aged pick up natural microorganisms in the air, in the flour, and on your skin which creates a symbolic relationship that are unique to each persons environment. This unique quality gives everyones leaven a different flavor. The key to sourdough success is a trained leaven that is strong and well maintained.
Semola Rimacinata Sourdough
The primere of this loaf of bread lies in the Semolina flour. I purchased the semolina from Gustiamo Inc. located in the Brox NYC. The flour is an acient sicilian semolina sourced straight from the hills of Sicily. It has such a delecate flavor which makes it a very versatile bread to use in the kitchen. With a hydration level of 75 percent, its crumb is soft and just the right texture that will make you want to eat the entire loaf. Useful for both savory and sweet applications. This bread would make awesome sandwiches and is great for toasting in the morning. As a sweet applicatin, bread pounding with figs or golden raisins paired with vanilla ice cream.
“Food is everything we are. It’s an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.” – Anthony Bourdain
Get in Touch
Interested in learning more about me, my work or how we can collaborate on an upcoming project? Feel free to reach out anytime, I would be more than happy to chat.