Conventional baking in the kitchen – Mario and Remo Capitaneo

“Equipment that manages to make the most of all the energy put into a dough is the best”

The appointments with the in-depth discussions on baking, born from the meetings with the great professionals belonging to our #RoadToSmartBaking community, are back. After Franco Aliberti, Igor Macchia, Aurora Mazzucchelli and Renato Bosco, we interviewed Chefs Mario and Remo Capitaneo, busy with their next opening in the centre of Milan.
After being part of the staff of many starred restaurants (Berton, Cracco and Bartolini, to name but a few), the two siblings bring their great experience and the desire to sign an haute cuisine project themselves. S series S50 heat will be the partner in this adventure, as they tell us in this interview:

In the restaurant you are opening, you have chosen to install S series S50: why?

Remo – The type of cooking, the uniformity and everything else, is definitely not something you can get from a classic convection oven, as we have personally experienced over the years.
Mario – In the composition we have chosen there is one deck with a steamer, so that we can give our product both power and steam at the same time, and combine these two aspects when baking bread or cream puffs, or for all those preparations that need that ‘light breath’ of humidity.
Seeing the potential of S series up close, the choice came naturally. We also considered another aspect, apparently irrelevant to some, but not to us: it has a beautiful aesthetic, a beautiful design. Especially in an open-style kitchen, showing guests an equipment in both its performance and its beauty is an added value.

On several occasions you have said that you have experimented with baking the same dough in a deck oven and then in a convection one, noting differences: in what terms?

Mario – First of all, in the deck oven, you can use a higher temperature and be able to calibrate the top and deck separately. This offers the possibility of obtaining, for example, a more developed crust for bread, which also creates fascinating aromas.
Viceversa, lowering the temperature produces a more delicate aroma, like the aromas from the seeds, essential oils, become ‘finer’. Always preserving optimal baking, a thing that is not always to be taken for granted. Moreover, for gastronomy, a very nice aspect is that the power of S series, especially thanks to the separate adjustment of the top and deck, creates a very interesting process when cooking a duck, for example. You can use a lower temperature in one deck to best cook the inside, the heart, the flesh, and, to obtain a ‘crunchier’ crust, you can finish the product in the other chamber, set at a higher temperature, so to caramelise the skin and get that perfect soft flesh and crunchy outside.
In addition, for some pastry preparations, deck oven can have an important impact in terms of power: for example, for cream puffs, the heat quickly dries the dough to the right point, so we get a beautifully developed, soft and puffy cloche. Unlike convection baking which, with the fan, would dry this pastry too much, slowing down its correct development.

What does S series baking add to your preparations?

Remo – For me, the baking uniformity is really extraordinary. In each batch there is no different product, they are all perfectly baked in the same way.
Mario – It is extremely precise and this also translates into ease of use: there is no need to turn the trays during baking, make uncomfortable, annoying manoeuvres etc.
The yield is fundamental, especially on naturally fermented products. The refractory deck gives the right amount of heat from below and acts on the gases created by leavening with a unique evolution, returning a product that is well ‘open’ and airy, creating that extra deliciousness. 

How do you think this type of oven can help you organise your line?

Mario – Other than helping us, this oven will give us the satisfaction of justifying all the hours of preparation dedicated to the success of the products, especially for leavened products. This is essential for us, because a great equipment that is able to make the most of all the energy put into a dough is the best, in addition to being able to offer guests a product that is able to express its characteristics to the full.