Franci

Hi Steve! Thanks. I am renting kitchen very close to Dellapietras, at one Girl Cookies on Dean, I’d gladly offer you coffee. I am there T-W-T during school hours.

Sorry @quiet1 for the late response. Here is the nutritional info I hope I’ll be able to start selling online by the of November. But in case email and I’ll happy to arrange.

@Kerry Beal the Thermomix was essential! Thanks so much @Anna N I hoping it does well! Timing is good. Not too far away from Thanksgiving.

Thank you For now I put an expiration date of 6 weeks. I need to make a longer lab test analysis. But I personally had some that were 2 months old. Thanks Shelby For now I only delivered to Fleisher’s Craft Butchery in the UES in Manhattan, Dellapietras butcher in Brooklyn and Caputo’s Fine Foods in Brooklyn. But I think these salamis can be easily be shipped anywhere. I am going to start to contact places all over to see to place them.

Hi guys. I’ve just started selling my new product this week, I’ve delivered the first 3 cases. I finally received the wrap from Italy. It is a patented paper, love the way it looks. And I am heat sealing it. And here is the new product. A classic Italian: chocolate salami. I thought it was a classic but still I get a lot of funny faces, people thinking of a salami with meat. The actual salami is the one on the right, with Valrhona cocoa powder (the salami on the left was made with a different cocoa for comparison) I was thinking for tying them like a real salami but it was suicide! I think it’s highly addictive and delicious. Hopefully I can start selling it online in November.

Guys, it’s the dough that is very easy to stretch. Maybe next time, I’ll ask my son to take a video

It was such a long long time and it takes so little effort that I found no excuses today and made apple strudel. I love walnut in the strudel but my son doesn’t (too bad). I almost put any sugar in it. Definitely a light dessert

After making montanare yesterday (the fried little pizzas from Naples), too bad I didn’t take pictures...Tonight I made piadina. Flour, lard, salt. Punctured with a fork the bubbles. No “testo”, the piadina pan but debuyer iron pan.

@Thanks for the Crepes thank you All great suggestions. If you have never tried the Amarene in syrup, try them! I brioche filled with pastry cream and Amarene is delish! Also on gelato. The Fabbri Amarene are very decent but already a second choice compared to the home version of Amarene « cooked in the sun ». My mom, when she still lived in the South, used to make them every year. This is in Italian but photos help. In the meantime, I’ve never tried the Trader Joe’s. I will and report back on the difference!

@Anna N, with my broiler it’s easy to do the browning using the stand but if I had to use the oven, I’d just use a heat resistant plate. P.S.: the cake is on a cake board, using a spatula is also very easy to move it around.

Thanks @Toliver ! The idea of skipping the cake browning was not mine I think it was just to save time on the video. On my Instagram page I posted a photo with the brown top: click , third photo. Unfortunately too late to change the video. And thanks a lot for spotting the mistake on the mispelled address and link! Going to correct right now.

Here it is, new video is up

@Kenneth thanks, although the field is different, I really appreciate your input . To have a good product is simply not enough...right? So many more aspect to consider. I am back on thinking what to do next.

Update on what happened this month. The new person that I just hired in August resigned by email with no notice. A lot of my time is devoted to bake in the kitchen until I find a replacement. So grateful I still have one guy with me that is really great. I’ve also spent a lot of time on the new product. Thank to @Kerry Beal that helped me to acquire a used Thermomix, I feel my new product on the production is easily repeatable, which was not the case before the machine...I am just waiting for the wrap, which has been printing in Italy to introduce it to the market.I’ll tell you more about this in the next couple weeks. I am also having second thoughts on starting the ecommerce. I feel at this stage the appearance of the cakes will suffer too much and also it will require too much of my time on packaging and shipping. I want to try to get more wholesale business. But that’s also though. Maybe I will need a brainstorming session with you guys

Hi. Sorry I disappeared but I had to take a break on posting the videos. I replaced my IT person and found someone else that is going to take care of my website/YouTube Channel and Instagram. I’ve also decided that I’ll post videos every 2nd Tuesday, it was getting way too expensive and time consuming to post every week. I also had to create a new YouTube Channel, I just updated all the links in this thread but two Channels are going to coexist only for tomorrow, I’ll have the first one deleted. For tomorrow Zuppa inglese is already scheduled. I’ll link to the recipe tomorrow

Ah, ah, @Thanks for the Crepes right, baking powder! I should have mentioned it. I'll make a correction somewhere. Thanks for suggesting it. And oven will remain a joke between me the producer and the sound specialist. Didn't say hoven this time

@Thanks for the Crepes Thanks you! So nice of you thinking this Very much appreciated!

Thanks @Toliver glad you like it and find useful. To answer to your question next week I am going to upload a video on Zuppa inglese, so you'll see how it is done. All the crust is removed from the cake and then sliced in 3 parts, so each layer a little less than 1 cm, about 8 mm or so. Then each layer is brushed with the soaking liquid and cake get assembled. But you'll see it next week!

Hi guys. So, the new video for today is going to be on Sponge cake If you have time to read the recipe on my website, I'd appreciate your feedback https://www.dolcidifranci.com/recipes/2017/8/29/pan-di-spagna-italian-sponge-cake Thanks!

Here I am, back with a full list of tasks ahead of me! New employee started last week, she needs a little bit of time to get familiar with the recipes. On Friday I went around in Manhattan with samples of cakes and I was especially curious about the feedback on the new product. I brought it to a Italian friend of mine, he is a chef, working around the East village and he loved it. And I acquired one new customer on Friday. The videos are taking a lot of my time. My husband warned me. It's very slow to build followers and for now I've not had a great result also as traffic on the website. I feel all this requires either a big investment in terms of money or in terms of time. I also have a couple weeks time to write all I need for the ecommerce: product descriptions, shipping policy, terms and conditions...Ah,ah, the more I write down what need to be done, the more I am panicking but really if I don't write it down it will take me months!

This week is gone at the speed of the light for me. Almost boarding on a flight back to NYC. Looking forward to go back to work! But this morning we managed to put up a new video I have this week and next week to come up with a new round of recipes for October-November-Dicember...I'll think about it and come back. Always grateful for your feedback.

@Thanks for the Crepes I am indeed very petite, 5 feet 1" Than you for all the advice, very appreciated! I'll talk to my IT person and see how to do that...I have no idea. I am learning so many things in the process.

Thanks @Toliver do you think it would be better if I put the recipe also below the link to my video, just quantities and steps? Leaving the extra tips only for the website? I am making the extra effort of providing other info besides the recipes and maybe not everybody wants to get so in details. But being the person I am I would be happy to find more! This is because I personally find text on the video distracting. So, maybe just adding the recipe below. BTW, talking about accent. I should make a video of behind the scenes. We had a blast about my accent. One time my oven, came out I was from Northern Europe ahhh, ahh, hoven. We couldn't stop laughing.

Hi guys. I am up with the 5th recipe: torta sbrisolona. Recipes for me are getting a little more interesting in the sense that once I've covered some basics: shortpastry, cream and in the next couple weeks sponge cake we can go into more regional specialties. I've done some mistakes here and there: not taking good pictures of the finished product as presentation in my website. So I am going crazy looking for a decent picture without having to make the particular pastry again. I am already working on recipes for the Fall...

Also you can look for vincotto di fichi. My grandfather used to dry figs in the sun: opened in half but still attached at the base. Fill with walnuts and pair with another half. Dry fig sandwich. He had some cane trellis where the figs were spread and covered with a fly net and let in the hot summer sun, brought in at night. But I don't remember how long it would take. I miss figs so much. I remember my father was particular found of some trees on the road, every time he would drive by, he would stop to eat the figs hanging on the side of the street. Too bad my parents moved to the North. Fig and prosciutto, figs and prosciutto. I could have as appetizer every day.