Panetteria Valentino

My Story

My journey baking bread started in 2019 when I became passionate about making home made pasta. I became rather proficient at making pasta of different shapes, different doughs and textures and I wanted to expand my skills into other types of dough based foods. The next logical step was bread.

I found a recipe for a yeast based Italian bread online, followed the directions to the letter, and produced... the ugliest looking, hardest texture bread you can imagine. At that point, I was determined to not only lear how to make a good loaf of bread, but master the craft and be able to create any type of bread I wanted to make.

Like many during the 2020 pandemic restrictions, I had a lot of time while working from home to focus on the smaller tasks of making bread that you just aren't afforded while in the office. I created a sourdough starter, was able to babysit it during short 5-10 minute breaks at work, and give it just enough attention to grow a thriving culture. Over the course of that year my bread bakes have turned from disastrous, to pretty good, to very good, to all the neighbors looking forward to my weekly gifts of fresh baked breads that were either excess, or "ugly but still good".

Over the next couple years, I challenged myself to maintaining a much more delicate starter in addition to my basic sourdough starter -- the Lievito Madre. Lievito Madre is an Italian stiff starter that is maintained by a process that maintains a low pH, minimizes acetic acid, and maximizes lactic acid in the starter, yielding a more milky, buttery taste to the crumb. It's also a crucial ingredient in creating specialized Italian enriched breads like Panettone and Colomba, and provides a nice variation to focaccia breads and other sweet breads such as cornetto (croissant), and cinnamon rolls.

It was during this time, with all the experimentation, free gifts, and Christmas baked goods that I kept getting the same feedback -- "When are you opening your bakery?". Well, in 2026, that time has finally come. I'm pleased to announce that I have set up my own Micro Bakery that I operate out of my home kitchen, which focuses on the quality of the breads by selecting the best available ingredients, using the best techniques for crafting recipes, and utilizing the proper starters for the breads I bake.

I'm thrilled to finally share this passion of mine with the larger community and offer my products directly to you.

Offerings

Below you will find a list of product offerings. These are the menu items that are available for pre-order on my Hotplate. I do not sell any products directly from my website, nor via email. All sales are done through Hotplate so that I can make your orders fresh, and have them ready for the pickup date. Simply follow the Hotplate links below, or at the top of this page to access my ordering system. You can follow the QR codes below to visit my Hotplate site, check out the current drop, and sign up for future drops.

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