Why did the Bakery Team visit Italy?

The Italy trip involved the whole International Bakery Team: technical advisors, product managers and the communication department. It was initiated to get the team to understand where Sapore Madre comes from and learn the story behind it. Another goal was to strengthen their skills in rich applications and the use of minimal yeast and natural ingredients with a long fermentation process.

The trip was great for team building. A two day intensive Panettone, Focaccia and Pizza workshop, led by the fantastic team of Puratos Parma, made the whole team even more excited to use Sapore Madre. The workshop highlighted how Sapore Madre allows to create soft and moist texture for all rich bakery applications. And during those days, product managers and technical advisors were in an ideal situation to discuss recipe development, while considering both customer needs and consumer insights. 

The highlight of the trip was probably the encounter with the ‘mumma’: the motherdough or ‘Lievito Naturale’ of Sapore Madre that lives in the north of Italy. It has been refreshed every single day, without fail, since 1923. It’s refreshed with the same wheat flour, water and a part of the initial madre, as it has been since it was created. The fermentation process takes a full 36 hours. This ‘Lievito Naturale’ is then dried, making it possible to conserve all the benefits of traditional sourdough in a powdered form.

Sapore Madre was initially used by Italian bakers to make Panettone, but it will improve both the texture and palatability of all your rich bakery creations. It’s got all the characteristics of a product prepared in an artisanal way and contributes to developing a soft, moist crumb structure that’s both resilient and long lasting.