Whole grain only
The dough needs to rest for one day before the grissini can be
baked. “Great food needs time. Most people will understand
that with wine, but nobody sees that with bread”, the baker says.
In addition to his grissini, he also bakes fresh rolls every day.
Three years ago, in summer, he founded Pastalpina. His goal
is to use heirloom grains and produce authentic products.
Back then, the trained baker worked as a salesman for a mill.
For him, a healthy diet has always been important and he has
always acted out of conviction. So producing his own organic
wholefood products was the logical next step to take.
From the very beginning, he has been producing three types
of grissini – plain, with tomatoes, and with rosemary – and nine
pasta varieties including spelt, rye, einkorn wheat, buckwheat
and durum wheat. His pasta is all organic and made from South
Tyrolean Regiokorn grains and the traditional Austrian einkorn
grains. A friend of his, also a baker, does all the milling for him.
And the flour is not sifted. “The term “wholemeal” is not clearly
defined here in Italy, so companies can go and sell white flour
with bran as wholemeal”, Gross complains. “But wholemeal actually
means using whole grains only, i.e. including the outer layers.
This also makes the grains easier to digest”.