What ingredients do we select?
We use the best quality ingredients we can find. We try to source as locally as possible, using imported products selectively, where we use them to achieve a specific result.
We source our ingredients from supply chains that respect sustainable, ethical and biodynamic farming practices. Some of these products can be considered organic, and some may be certified. We do our best to select other products that we use in line with our philosophy.
Primary ingredients:
Flour Local stoneground, GMO free wheat flour from biodynamic farming. Local stoneground spelt, oats. Imported semolina, barley and strong wheat flours from Italy.
Dairy Our milk-based products are sourced from different producers the Cape Winelands. They have pasture-fed jersey cattle herds to supply milk, cream butter and cheese.
The cream is so lush and full of flavour, it inspired us to make our own cultured butter. We make butter from cream that we churn after fermenting it for 3 days.
Our Italian style fresh milk cheeses like mozzarella are made by an award-winning Italian cheese-maker in Somerset West.
Oil Most of our doughs contain extra virgin olive oil. Our oil comes from olives grown and pressed in the Franschhoek valley. We do not use canola oil. We use pure sunflower oil for frying.
Water Franschhoek spring water for feeding Alfonsina and for baking.
Salt Raw sea salt from the West Coast.
Meat Free range from grass or pasture-fed herds. We do not use or sell any meats that are cured with nitrites. Our prosciutto from Italy literally contains only pork, salt and time!
We feed mother daily to have excess mother dough which we mature and covert in fermented flour. This replace all or part of the fresh flour required in other products such as rusks, chocolate brownies, cakes and muffins.
Chocolate, cocoa and coffee are sourced from certified fair trade producers.
We do not add sugar in any form to any of our bread doughs. We do use sugar in our pastries, cakes, brioche and other treats. Not everything we make is guilt free but our ingredient choice and process result in product of superior quality.
We make our own preserves, pesto, sugo and home meals according to the same principles when selecting our fruits and vegetables.