Dudi Presecan – La Muma Bakery, Mândra village

Dudi Presecan is from the village of Mândra, commune of Loamneș, county of Sibiu. He and his wife lived in Barcelona, Spain for a few years, where they managed a restaurant. A few years ago, they came back home, wishing to open a restaurant, but in the end they set up a bakery in the village of Mândra. He was inspired by his mother and grandmother making break in the traditional manner. They taught them how to make the bread in their own bakery. 

Here, they prepare bread as it used to be made, with leaven and slowly, taking their time. They make the leaven the night before, then, eight hours later, i.e. at 4 a.m. the next day, they knead the dough and let it rise for another two hours. Once it’s risen, the dough is shaped, placed into trays and left to rise for another hour.

They use flour made of the wheat they themselves cultivate, which is ground at the mill house. They make white bread, whole wheat bread and wholemeal rye bread or seed bread, in round trays, as well as in a hearth oven.
 

Besides bread, they have also started to make cozonac filled with walnuts and other fillings, and hencleș. They bake bread, cozonac and hencleș in a wood-fired oven.

Bread is baked on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, as they fill two oven loads with a total of 80 loaves. The bread is baked for two hours, then taken out and, while still hot, its burnt crust is ‘battered’ and grated. When the bread is still hot, both them, and their children tear a piece each and eat it warm.