12 bread milestones at Ambiente
"At Ambiente, bread was bought for a long time before we realised that it was a fundamental item that we had to pay as much attention to as meat, wine or coffee. However, in our search for a recipe for the classic Czech Šumava loaf, we discovered that the baking craft in its pure form has almost died out in our country," says Tomáš Karpíšek.
The first loaves from Eska were also made by his brother Aleš Karpíšek, bakers Artur Cibulka and Jarda Kozdělka or the creative chefs of the time. Here's what they think influenced the bread at Ambiente.
1. Tomatoes are to blame for everything!
A visit to Naples, where Pizza Nuova had a special variety of tomatoes grown. Chef Aleš Karpíšek was given a special variety for dinner there. Tomatoes on bread, and he was so impressed that he went to a nearby family bakery. Without hesitation, he then asked for an internship to learn how to bake San Sebastian bread in an old oven and on a fire.
2. If bread, then Šumava
Italian bread had been baked for some time in the pizza oven in Revolucni street and prompted the Karpíšek brothers to look into traditional Šumava. However, they searched in vain for a person who had a perfect grasp of the old baking craft, so they took inspiration from all over the world. The future bread was to have a sour taste, a soft crumb and a thicker crust. It was only when the Eska bakery opened that the size of the loaves was considered, and a development full of trial and error began.
3. Bread map
The arrival of sous-chef Jarda Kozdělka and collaboration with creatives Slava Grigoryk and Jana Jelič (then Bilíková) brought order and stability to the production. In the bakery, the slightest adjustment to the process was meticulously recorded until a map was created that still shows the key processes and influences in bread baking. The bakers counted 38 details, such as the temperature of the water, leaven and dough, the strength of the dough or the air pressure. The map is constantly updated and helps to find solutions to unexpected situations.
4. The special menu
The yeast in Eska is fed three times a day. Aleš Karpíšek set up the unusual regime thinking that it was a classic three-stage leaven management. However, it is only fed three times for two days, then it is enough to feed it once a day. However, regular intervals and precise feeding doses have benefited the ferment as well as the mixer, which has replaced the manual mixing in large vats. This too has helped the consistent quality of the bread!
5. From the field to the oven
From the beginning, Eska insisted on Czech bread made from Czech grain. The bakers had to get to know Probio's bio-flour, and understand it. They took advantage of a lecture at the University of Applied Sciences, but also of the willingness of the millers, with whom they consulted about gluten, moisture and flour tempering before kneading the dough, the milling method and the freshness of the flour. This alchemy kept the bakers awake at night for a long time!
6. Fermentation the English way
The team of bakers also struggled with the proofing of the dough. At first it was fermented in the heat, but after a traineeship at the Bread Ahead bakery in London, they switched to to slow fermentation in boxes, where the bread is fermented for a long time at a low temperature in wooden boxes under a cloth. This has improved the bread's properties and operating conditions.
7. Palms and hazelnuts
The oven has taught the bakers a difficult lesson, as it has to be properly heated, ventilated and steamed. It was transported to Eska from Italy by truck, passing through the centre of Prague, under the watch of Aleš Karpíšek. It was built directly in the bakery and initially melted with a bruciatore machine, which blows the ignited husks of hazelnuts inside. Before starting with the bread, the oven was wiped with wet palm leaves. The hazelnut husks were soon replaced by beechwood pellets and the bruciatore disappeared as the dough slowly matured.
8. Potatoes in the skin
Potatoes became an integral part of the recipe for Bread 33. The idea to mix them into the dough came from chef Jana Jelič, who had seen this trick at her mother's and at her internship at The Fat Duck restaurant. The very first test batch of bread confirmed that the tubers cooked in the skin give the crumb softness and plumpness.
9. The baked revolution
Eska introduced guests to the unusually dark bread and had to explain at length that it was not burnt, but baked from fire and wood! The bakers themselves were taught to estimate the degree of browning of the crust, as it should not taste bitter. Bread 33 is also brushed with salt water to make the crust thin and only slightly bitter, perfect with butter and jam.
10. A zero from Copenhagen
The bread at Ambiente has progressed to the next level since Slava Grigoryk returned from his internship at Copenhagen's Mirabelle. From there he brought back the recipe for bread 00 made from wheat flour and highly hydrated dough, but above all a Nordic approach to baking and valuable baking experience.
11. Razor blades and ferns
It was the baker Artur Cibulka who took up scoring bread dough in Eska. The so-called "bread rolls" were made by the artist. Bread scoring was originally intended only to distinguish between two types of bread, but it turned out that, thanks to the right scoring, air escapes from the dough and the loaf bakes beautifully without cracking uncontrollably. You can still see a bit of the art in bread 66, while bread 33 is not cut, and therefore has a slightly longer shelf life.
12. Eska as a starting point
Several years of effort in the bakery have paid off. The bread has migrated from Karlín to other Ambiente businesses. However, Eska had neither the capacity nor the ambition to supply the entire network, so it was time to develop bakeries in other outlets.
And what was next?
In Pizza Nuova they perfected the Italian bread and eventually added wheat-rye bread according to Slava Grigoryk, who now runs the bakery at U Kalendů, and pulls more than just Danish-style bread out of the oven. At Café Savoy, where the first ever Šumava was baked at Ambiente, and they are currently concentrating on the perfect baguette. Other concepts are not left behind either. Various bread doughs (and other types of pastries) are being made in Pasta Fresca, Čestr, Kuchyn and Myšák.
"It took us more than two years to work our way to the bread we wanted when the first dough was mixed. It took a lot of patience, but also faith and support from Tomáš. Few people would invest so much energy in the dream of good Czech bread," concludes Aleš Karpíšek.
