February 28, 2025 • 17 mins
In this episode of 'Bread for the People,' Jim Serpico shares his heartfelt speech delivered to the Long Island Chefs. He recounts his experiences, from setting up a 12-foot grazing table featuring various breads and Italian meats to lightening the mood with humor. Jim delves into his background, including his father's culinary influence and his transition from a TV producer to a bread and pizza maker. He discusses his endeavors with Serpico's Bread Company, their mobile bread café, and their unique community-driven initiatives. Jim emphasizes the importance of passion, community, and enjoying the journey over reaching a specific destination. The episode concludes with reflections on his love for bread baking and the invaluable lessons learned along the way.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:04 Setting the Scene: Long Island Chefs Event
00:58 Breaking the Ice: Humor and Anecdotes
02:16 Family Influence: My Father's Legacy
03:42 The Birth of a Passion: Bread and Pizza
04:23 Community and Collaboration: Long Island Pizza Strong
05:02 A New Chapter: From TV Producer to Bread Baker
07:10 The Mobile Bread Cafe: Creating Unforgettable Experiences
13:15 The Pandemic Pivot: Side Hustle Bread
14:56 Learning from the Masters: Bread for the People Podcast
16:16 Reflection and Conclusion: Embracing the Journey
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jim-serpico-bread-for-the-people-sourdough-pizza-life--5704379/support.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:04 Setting the Scene: Long Island Chefs Event
00:58 Breaking the Ice: Humor and Anecdotes
02:16 Family Influence: My Father's Legacy
03:42 The Birth of a Passion: Bread and Pizza
04:23 Community and Collaboration: Long Island Pizza Strong
05:02 A New Chapter: From TV Producer to Bread Baker
07:10 The Mobile Bread Cafe: Creating Unforgettable Experiences
13:15 The Pandemic Pivot: Side Hustle Bread
14:56 Learning from the Masters: Bread for the People Podcast
16:16 Reflection and Conclusion: Embracing the Journey
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jim-serpico-bread-for-the-people-sourdough-pizza-life--5704379/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Bread for the People. I'm Jim Cerboco. A
couple of weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking
in front of a group called the Long Island Chefs.
Who was an honor to be able to talk about
my passion and bread making and pizza making in front
of some of the best chefs Long Island has to offer.
(00:21):
I laid out and created a twelve foot grazing table
that included thirty five different loaves of bread, some Italian
imported meats and cheeses. Everyone was introducing themselves and mingling
at the front, and then I had the opportunity to
speak for about fifteen to twenty minutes. And on this episode,
(00:41):
I'd like to play the speech that I gave and
the talk I gave so you get to know a
little bit more about me. Unfortunately, there was a little
bit of an audio glitch at the very beginning, but
it catches up real quick, so you know, at the
very top I talked about well, you know what I did.
(01:05):
I tried to break the tension in the room, Like
usually these things are pretty stiff, and as you may know,
I love to make people laugh, so I was kind
of goofing around for the first minute and a half,
these guys, they do the Pledge of Allegiance, you know,
then they go through the board minutes and roll call
(01:27):
and like all kinds of official stuff. And you know,
when it opened up, I started screwing around with these guys,
telling them how much I love the pledge and we
don't say the Pledge of Allegiance too much. And I
picked out a guy and accused him of screwing up
the pledge, and I asked him if he was doing
it on purpose, you know, he accidentally said, I pledge
allegiance to the Gulf of America. Everyone left, you know,
(01:50):
doing all kinds of stuff like that, and I talked
about how, you know, he looked Italian. I'm Italian. Italian's
a great chefs. And that's why I decided to go
all in and say up all my money and get
on a plane to study with the best in Naples, Florida.
I went to the wrong Naples. The bread sucks in Naples, Florida.
They say it's the water. By the way. The water
(02:13):
thing isn't true. You can make bread anywhere. Then I
go into talking about my father, who was one of
the greatest eaters of all time. He was the main
cook at home. He loved to cook Italian American fair sausage,
(02:33):
gravy as hee. We call it pasta brajol. And he
was a character. He was a larger than life guy.
He was a band leader for the New York Mob
and he was also a music teacher by day. And
he was the best. And he would take us to
(02:56):
a restaurant in Corona, Queens called the park Side, And
the Parkside's still there. And from five years old until now,
I've been going to the park Side with my family,
and now I take my friends there. And the thing
about the park Side is they as soon as you
sit down, they lay a basket of fresh baked bread
(03:17):
on the table and it's topped off with slices of
Prejutto bread. And I always remembered that Prejudo bread, and
as an adult, even though I wasn't a professional baker,
as a hobbyist, I would try to recreate that prejuto bread.
So I've caught you up on the beginning, and I'll
(03:39):
let the speech play from here, and I thank you
all for listening. And after years of trial and error
and reading many books, my favorite book was Carol Field's
book on It's called The Italian Baker. I finally created
a perjucto bread that I was proud of. Sharing it
with family and friends became my great joy. Watching their
(04:02):
reactions when they took the first bike was magical. That's
when I fell in love with bread baking for the
very first time. I'm a self taught bread baker, a
certified Master instructor of pizza, and I'm a member of
the Gasni Collective. I'm the founder of Curper Coast Bread Company.
I'm also the co founder of Long Island Pizza Strong.
(04:23):
Through Long Island Pizza Strong, we respond to local tragedies
by bringing together pizzerias to help victims in need. Over
the last year and a half and three separate tragedies,
we've brought together two hundred and fifty pizzerias three different
times to donate five dollars from each pie sold, and
together our community has raised over three hundred thousand dollars
(04:45):
for Long Island families. If you told me twenty years
ago that I'd be standing here in front of amazing
chefs like you all talking about bread, I would have
said you were crazy. I spent my first thirty working
years as a television producer, creating scripted series for networks
(05:08):
cable networks, and then in March twenty twenty, my life
took a turn. I decided to start a new chapter
and I quit my day job. Tonight, I want to
talk to you about bread, a little bit about Cerbercos
Bread Company and the role of faith. It's fate that
I'm standing here tonight at the urging of my good friend,
(05:30):
an amazing pise Aolo Gyatano Giordano. Let's give Guatano a
big hand. He helps me whenever I give him a call.
He's a very good friend of mine. He told me
about this group. I was very interested in joining, so
I DMed Long Island Chefs on Instagram and Chris reached
(05:52):
out and turned into this. Hopefully I could become a
part of this community, hanging out with like minded people
who have a calling to serve to create. Listen, we're
all doing this out of the passion. We probably could
do something else and make more money, but there's something
(06:13):
about this that something's a calling. I know I'm not
doing this for the money. I'm working here for Vigenzo.
He pays me a wine. It costs me money to
come here, but the truth is I love Vincenzo. He's
very generous with his space, with his knowledge and his
(06:34):
client tele He's a big part of the reason we're
building a fan base. We have many catering jobs all
through this place. And lastly, and most importantly, I want
to talk about why it's okay to not have a
long term plan in the food business. There's a cliche
(06:56):
life is about the journey, not the destination, but it's true.
I'm not interested in reaching the destination because when I
reach it, there's not going to be anything left for me.
So our company is a mobile bread cafe specializing in
food prepared on our arts and bread. We like to
(07:16):
say our bread and pizza help you create unforgettable memories.
We have no physical retail location. We participate in events
at venues like wine you design country clubs. We cater
parties in the Hamptons, We serve corporate parks, and we
recently had the opportunity to feed the staff of United
Airlines on an active tarmac at Laguaria Airport. Our bakery
(07:41):
is more than just bread and pizza. We value community.
We collaborate with local businesses, We give back to schools,
We bring people together. Occasionally, we organize restaurant flash models,
where we gather a crowd of our customers and we
support a local restaurant on a slow Monday night. These
(08:02):
events are pre arranged with the restaurant, and our customers
love the experience. They don't find out where they're going
until the day before, and we show up with the loons.
We bring influences that are going to post about the
experience the next day, and our customers end up discovering
restaurants they would have never thought to try on their own.
The restaurants and service thrive from the extra business and
(08:25):
it's a win win and a fun experience for everybody.
You've heard me mentioned experiences several times. Tonight, Long Island
is filled with PIZZAI is making great New York style pizza.
I had to think deeply about what would make our
food trucks stand out. Great food alone isn't enough. It's
(08:47):
the cost of entry. It's the baseline to succeed. We
need to create an experience so memorable that people will
seek us out. How will we do it? Bred It
is the foundation of very thing we do. We choose
to make sourdough bread instead of regular yeast bread because
it gives you something more than just great taste. It
adds to the experience we provide. Sarodo takes time, takes
(09:11):
patience and skill, just like the best things in life.
Instead of using fast acting yeast, we let natural fermentation
do the work, creating a deeper flavor and a crust
with just the right crunch. But it's not just about taste.
Sour dough is easier to digest, has more nutrients, and
stays fresh longer. When you bite into our bread, you're
(09:33):
not just eating something delicious, You're experiencing the craft, tradition,
and dedication that goes into every lull. That's one of
the things that makes us different from every other food truck.
We don't just bake bread. We make moments worth savoring.
And when it comes to pizza, we believe pizza starts
(09:53):
with passion and personal taste. That's why we don't just
follow trends. We serve the kind of pizza that we love.
Our customers get the best possible experience, whether it's the light,
crispy crust of the Roman style pizza that you try tonight,
or the soft air chew of a Neapolitan style. Every
slice is made with top quality ingredients and expert technique.
(10:16):
Our catering packages are fully customizable, so whether you're feeding
a small gathering or a big event, you get the
pizza that fits your taste, in your style. When you
choose our pizza, you're not just getting a meal, You're
getting a hand crafted experience that brings people together, one
slice at a time. Our new and second mobile trailer
debuts in March. It's going to be a game tranger
(10:38):
for us. It's thirty feet long. It's equipped with a
six foot round Neopoltan oven, a spiral mixer, six burn stove,
convection oven, digital menu screens. We've learned from our mistakes
like having too small of an oven or having branding
that doesn't connect with our clients. Now everything is designed
(10:58):
to create an elevated, seamless, customizable, customizable experience for our customers.
A little bit more about me. I went to college
for music, probably because my father was a professional musician.
Music was in my blood, but I had no idea
what I was going to do with my music degree.
(11:20):
During the day, we'd play our instruments and around midnight
we'd go across town and wait in line at Johnny's
Hot Trucks, run by a guy named Bob. This was
way before food trucks were involved. He served French bread
pizzas and took your order by writing your name on
a paper bag. It would take an hour to get served,
(11:42):
and dozens of kids would sit around, unbothered by the
chill of the Ethica winter. Every once in a while
we'd go and check where our name was in the bag.
He had a pizza called the PMP, which stood for
the poor Man's Pizza. It was a third of a
loaf of bread, sauce, and cheese. And then there was
my favorite, the full Sui or suicide. Bob said had
(12:05):
cured suicidal thoughts caused by studying too much, and like
the bread at the parkside, Johnny's Hot Truck made a lifetime,
lifetime impression on me. Everything about it, the ambiance, the experience, camaraderie.
After graduating college with no plan other than thinking I
(12:25):
wanted to get into the entertainment field, I landed a
job at a music booking agency. I worked real hard,
built authentic relationships with people that wanted to share their
knowledge with me and help me succeed. When I started
my production company with comedian and actor Dennis Leary at
twenty five years old, we didn't have a plan because
(12:45):
we didn't know what we didn't know. Each step of
the journey we thrived on figuring it out. Once again,
we met industry veterans that were more than happy to
share their knowledge with us, and over the next twenty
five years, we evolved into a prolific New York based
production company, producing hundreds of episodes of television. And I
(13:07):
didn't know it then, but those experiences would later shape
my approach to building this bread business, and that brings
me to the pandemic. In twenty twenty, I found myself
home with my wife three young adult sons, and to
distract ourselves from the chaos of the world, we started
baking bread, geast dows, sourdoughs, fresh pasta. We called it
(13:31):
side hustle bread because I was still working my other job.
But I fell in love with the art of baking,
the community and my new relationships, and I left show business.
We sold our first thirty five loves at a farmer's market.
I converted my garage into a bakery with a ten
pin steam convection of them and as soon to be
closed Fairway Supermarkets, boozeblock Table, and as fate would have it,
(13:58):
a friend called me and told me that Boomer and
the sports radio TV hosts were struggling to figure out
what kind of bread they should use for a sandwich
that was named after that. I called in and surprisingly
they took me straight to air. I pitched the Facacci idea.
They hated it. Instead of hanging up with me, they
(14:18):
invited me to come into the studio. Three days later,
I was on national television and their radio show talking
about my perjutto bread and advising them on different Semolina options.
Fans from around the country were now clamoring for our bread.
We built up the bakery. We were doing four to
(14:40):
five markets a weekend, and it got to the point
where each year at the Argyle Fare and Babylon A Loan,
we'd sell one thousand loves within four hours. While there
were plenty of obstacles in stress, I loved the adrenaline.
I would create a podcast called Bread for the People,
so that I could learn from the masters, share their
(15:01):
knowledge with others, and build relationships. My first guest was
Dan Richard of Raza in Jersey City. Following he was
just a named Bett's Piece in America by New York Times.
I spoke with Dave Dahl of Dave's Killer Bread. Taught
me how he turned his father's thirty year oil bread
bakery into a one hundred and seventy million dollars sale
(15:23):
by doing farmers' markets. I learned that Chad Robertson of
Tartean bakes the way he does so that he has
time to surf every morning. I bake every day. I
experiment with the two most important ingredients in bread making,
time and temperature. Taking a cueue from the beer industry
(15:45):
with the exact same ingredients in ratios, I developed an
East Coast barely salado in a West Coast style that's
punge it and tangy. I wrote a book, but it's
more like a pamphlet. It's only one hundred pages, but
it is available on Amazon. I'm not sure where this
ride's going to take me. We're in the midst of
(16:07):
rebanded rebranding side Hustle Bread to Serprecose Bread. We're focused
on collaboration, serving the community and continuing to evolve. For me,
this Jersey journey is not about the end goal. It's
about enjoying every twist and turn along the way. You've
heard me mention my father a lot. I idolized him.
(16:30):
He died from a heart attack at fifty five. He
never met my children, he never saw my name on TV,
and he never tasted my prejudo bread. Our time didn't
go together as planned. It's okay if you do have
(16:53):
a plan, but no, it may fall shit, it will change,
it will evolve, and that's okay. Just remember the journey
unknown is the journey worth taking. Thank you follow that
Welcome to Bread for the People. I'm Jim Cerboco. A
couple of weeks ago, I had the honor of speaking
in front of a group called the Long Island Chefs.
Who was an honor to be able to talk about
my passion and bread making and pizza making in front
of some of the best chefs Long Island has to offer.
(00:21):
I laid out and created a twelve foot grazing table
that included thirty five different loaves of bread, some Italian
imported meats and cheeses. Everyone was introducing themselves and mingling
at the front, and then I had the opportunity to
speak for about fifteen to twenty minutes. And on this episode,
(00:41):
I'd like to play the speech that I gave and
the talk I gave so you get to know a
little bit more about me. Unfortunately, there was a little
bit of an audio glitch at the very beginning, but
it catches up real quick, so you know, at the
very top I talked about well, you know what I did.
(01:05):
I tried to break the tension in the room, Like
usually these things are pretty stiff, and as you may know,
I love to make people laugh, so I was kind
of goofing around for the first minute and a half,
these guys, they do the Pledge of Allegiance, you know,
then they go through the board minutes and roll call
(01:27):
and like all kinds of official stuff. And you know,
when it opened up, I started screwing around with these guys,
telling them how much I love the pledge and we
don't say the Pledge of Allegiance too much. And I
picked out a guy and accused him of screwing up
the pledge, and I asked him if he was doing
it on purpose, you know, he accidentally said, I pledge
allegiance to the Gulf of America. Everyone left, you know,
(01:50):
doing all kinds of stuff like that, and I talked
about how, you know, he looked Italian. I'm Italian. Italian's
a great chefs. And that's why I decided to go
all in and say up all my money and get
on a plane to study with the best in Naples, Florida.
I went to the wrong Naples. The bread sucks in Naples, Florida.
They say it's the water. By the way. The water
(02:13):
thing isn't true. You can make bread anywhere. Then I
go into talking about my father, who was one of
the greatest eaters of all time. He was the main
cook at home. He loved to cook Italian American fair sausage,
(02:33):
gravy as hee. We call it pasta brajol. And he
was a character. He was a larger than life guy.
He was a band leader for the New York Mob
and he was also a music teacher by day. And
he was the best. And he would take us to
(02:56):
a restaurant in Corona, Queens called the park Side, And
the Parkside's still there. And from five years old until now,
I've been going to the park Side with my family,
and now I take my friends there. And the thing
about the park Side is they as soon as you
sit down, they lay a basket of fresh baked bread
(03:17):
on the table and it's topped off with slices of
Prejutto bread. And I always remembered that Prejudo bread, and
as an adult, even though I wasn't a professional baker,
as a hobbyist, I would try to recreate that prejuto bread.
So I've caught you up on the beginning, and I'll
(03:39):
let the speech play from here, and I thank you
all for listening. And after years of trial and error
and reading many books, my favorite book was Carol Field's
book on It's called The Italian Baker. I finally created
a perjucto bread that I was proud of. Sharing it
with family and friends became my great joy. Watching their
(04:02):
reactions when they took the first bike was magical. That's
when I fell in love with bread baking for the
very first time. I'm a self taught bread baker, a
certified Master instructor of pizza, and I'm a member of
the Gasni Collective. I'm the founder of Curper Coast Bread Company.
I'm also the co founder of Long Island Pizza Strong.
(04:23):
Through Long Island Pizza Strong, we respond to local tragedies
by bringing together pizzerias to help victims in need. Over
the last year and a half and three separate tragedies,
we've brought together two hundred and fifty pizzerias three different
times to donate five dollars from each pie sold, and
together our community has raised over three hundred thousand dollars
(04:45):
for Long Island families. If you told me twenty years
ago that I'd be standing here in front of amazing
chefs like you all talking about bread, I would have
said you were crazy. I spent my first thirty working
years as a television producer, creating scripted series for networks
(05:08):
cable networks, and then in March twenty twenty, my life
took a turn. I decided to start a new chapter
and I quit my day job. Tonight, I want to
talk to you about bread, a little bit about Cerbercos
Bread Company and the role of faith. It's fate that
I'm standing here tonight at the urging of my good friend,
(05:30):
an amazing pise Aolo Gyatano Giordano. Let's give Guatano a
big hand. He helps me whenever I give him a call.
He's a very good friend of mine. He told me
about this group. I was very interested in joining, so
I DMed Long Island Chefs on Instagram and Chris reached
(05:52):
out and turned into this. Hopefully I could become a
part of this community, hanging out with like minded people
who have a calling to serve to create. Listen, we're
all doing this out of the passion. We probably could
do something else and make more money, but there's something
(06:13):
about this that something's a calling. I know I'm not
doing this for the money. I'm working here for Vigenzo.
He pays me a wine. It costs me money to
come here, but the truth is I love Vincenzo. He's
very generous with his space, with his knowledge and his
(06:34):
client tele He's a big part of the reason we're
building a fan base. We have many catering jobs all
through this place. And lastly, and most importantly, I want
to talk about why it's okay to not have a
long term plan in the food business. There's a cliche
(06:56):
life is about the journey, not the destination, but it's true.
I'm not interested in reaching the destination because when I
reach it, there's not going to be anything left for me.
So our company is a mobile bread cafe specializing in
food prepared on our arts and bread. We like to
(07:16):
say our bread and pizza help you create unforgettable memories.
We have no physical retail location. We participate in events
at venues like wine you design country clubs. We cater
parties in the Hamptons, We serve corporate parks, and we
recently had the opportunity to feed the staff of United
Airlines on an active tarmac at Laguaria Airport. Our bakery
(07:41):
is more than just bread and pizza. We value community.
We collaborate with local businesses, We give back to schools,
We bring people together. Occasionally, we organize restaurant flash models,
where we gather a crowd of our customers and we
support a local restaurant on a slow Monday night. These
(08:02):
events are pre arranged with the restaurant, and our customers
love the experience. They don't find out where they're going
until the day before, and we show up with the loons.
We bring influences that are going to post about the
experience the next day, and our customers end up discovering
restaurants they would have never thought to try on their own.
The restaurants and service thrive from the extra business and
(08:25):
it's a win win and a fun experience for everybody.
You've heard me mentioned experiences several times. Tonight, Long Island
is filled with PIZZAI is making great New York style pizza.
I had to think deeply about what would make our
food trucks stand out. Great food alone isn't enough. It's
(08:47):
the cost of entry. It's the baseline to succeed. We
need to create an experience so memorable that people will
seek us out. How will we do it? Bred It
is the foundation of very thing we do. We choose
to make sourdough bread instead of regular yeast bread because
it gives you something more than just great taste. It
adds to the experience we provide. Sarodo takes time, takes
(09:11):
patience and skill, just like the best things in life.
Instead of using fast acting yeast, we let natural fermentation
do the work, creating a deeper flavor and a crust
with just the right crunch. But it's not just about taste.
Sour dough is easier to digest, has more nutrients, and
stays fresh longer. When you bite into our bread, you're
(09:33):
not just eating something delicious, You're experiencing the craft, tradition,
and dedication that goes into every lull. That's one of
the things that makes us different from every other food truck.
We don't just bake bread. We make moments worth savoring.
And when it comes to pizza, we believe pizza starts
(09:53):
with passion and personal taste. That's why we don't just
follow trends. We serve the kind of pizza that we love.
Our customers get the best possible experience, whether it's the light,
crispy crust of the Roman style pizza that you try tonight,
or the soft air chew of a Neapolitan style. Every
slice is made with top quality ingredients and expert technique.
(10:16):
Our catering packages are fully customizable, so whether you're feeding
a small gathering or a big event, you get the
pizza that fits your taste, in your style. When you
choose our pizza, you're not just getting a meal, You're
getting a hand crafted experience that brings people together, one
slice at a time. Our new and second mobile trailer
debuts in March. It's going to be a game tranger
(10:38):
for us. It's thirty feet long. It's equipped with a
six foot round Neopoltan oven, a spiral mixer, six burn stove,
convection oven, digital menu screens. We've learned from our mistakes
like having too small of an oven or having branding
that doesn't connect with our clients. Now everything is designed
(10:58):
to create an elevated, seamless, customizable, customizable experience for our customers.
A little bit more about me. I went to college
for music, probably because my father was a professional musician.
Music was in my blood, but I had no idea
what I was going to do with my music degree.
(11:20):
During the day, we'd play our instruments and around midnight
we'd go across town and wait in line at Johnny's
Hot Trucks, run by a guy named Bob. This was
way before food trucks were involved. He served French bread
pizzas and took your order by writing your name on
a paper bag. It would take an hour to get served,
(11:42):
and dozens of kids would sit around, unbothered by the
chill of the Ethica winter. Every once in a while
we'd go and check where our name was in the bag.
He had a pizza called the PMP, which stood for
the poor Man's Pizza. It was a third of a
loaf of bread, sauce, and cheese. And then there was
my favorite, the full Sui or suicide. Bob said had
(12:05):
cured suicidal thoughts caused by studying too much, and like
the bread at the parkside, Johnny's Hot Truck made a lifetime,
lifetime impression on me. Everything about it, the ambiance, the experience, camaraderie.
After graduating college with no plan other than thinking I
(12:25):
wanted to get into the entertainment field, I landed a
job at a music booking agency. I worked real hard,
built authentic relationships with people that wanted to share their
knowledge with me and help me succeed. When I started
my production company with comedian and actor Dennis Leary at
twenty five years old, we didn't have a plan because
(12:45):
we didn't know what we didn't know. Each step of
the journey we thrived on figuring it out. Once again,
we met industry veterans that were more than happy to
share their knowledge with us, and over the next twenty
five years, we evolved into a prolific New York based
production company, producing hundreds of episodes of television. And I
(13:07):
didn't know it then, but those experiences would later shape
my approach to building this bread business, and that brings
me to the pandemic. In twenty twenty, I found myself
home with my wife three young adult sons, and to
distract ourselves from the chaos of the world, we started
baking bread, geast dows, sourdoughs, fresh pasta. We called it
(13:31):
side hustle bread because I was still working my other job.
But I fell in love with the art of baking,
the community and my new relationships, and I left show business.
We sold our first thirty five loves at a farmer's market.
I converted my garage into a bakery with a ten
pin steam convection of them and as soon to be
closed Fairway Supermarkets, boozeblock Table, and as fate would have it,
(13:58):
a friend called me and told me that Boomer and
the sports radio TV hosts were struggling to figure out
what kind of bread they should use for a sandwich
that was named after that. I called in and surprisingly
they took me straight to air. I pitched the Facacci idea.
They hated it. Instead of hanging up with me, they
(14:18):
invited me to come into the studio. Three days later,
I was on national television and their radio show talking
about my perjutto bread and advising them on different Semolina options.
Fans from around the country were now clamoring for our bread.
We built up the bakery. We were doing four to
(14:40):
five markets a weekend, and it got to the point
where each year at the Argyle Fare and Babylon A Loan,
we'd sell one thousand loves within four hours. While there
were plenty of obstacles in stress, I loved the adrenaline.
I would create a podcast called Bread for the People,
so that I could learn from the masters, share their
(15:01):
knowledge with others, and build relationships. My first guest was
Dan Richard of Raza in Jersey City. Following he was
just a named Bett's Piece in America by New York Times.
I spoke with Dave Dahl of Dave's Killer Bread. Taught
me how he turned his father's thirty year oil bread
bakery into a one hundred and seventy million dollars sale
(15:23):
by doing farmers' markets. I learned that Chad Robertson of
Tartean bakes the way he does so that he has
time to surf every morning. I bake every day. I
experiment with the two most important ingredients in bread making,
time and temperature. Taking a cueue from the beer industry
(15:45):
with the exact same ingredients in ratios, I developed an
East Coast barely salado in a West Coast style that's
punge it and tangy. I wrote a book, but it's
more like a pamphlet. It's only one hundred pages, but
it is available on Amazon. I'm not sure where this
ride's going to take me. We're in the midst of
(16:07):
rebanded rebranding side Hustle Bread to Serprecose Bread. We're focused
on collaboration, serving the community and continuing to evolve. For me,
this Jersey journey is not about the end goal. It's
about enjoying every twist and turn along the way. You've
heard me mention my father a lot. I idolized him.
(16:30):
He died from a heart attack at fifty five. He
never met my children, he never saw my name on TV,
and he never tasted my prejudo bread. Our time didn't
go together as planned. It's okay if you do have
(16:53):
a plan, but no, it may fall shit, it will change,
it will evolve, and that's okay. Just remember the journey
unknown is the journey worth taking. Thank you follow that
Popular Podcasts
Law & Order: Criminal Justice System - Season 1 & Season 2
Season Two Out Now! Law & Order: Criminal Justice System tells the real stories behind the landmark cases that have shaped how the most dangerous and influential criminals in America are prosecuted. In its second season, the series tackles the threat of terrorism in the United States. From the rise of extremist political groups in the 60s to domestic lone wolves in the modern day, we explore how organizations like the FBI and Joint Terrorism Take Force have evolved to fight back against a multitude of terrorist threats.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.