I felt like something was missing. Don’t get me wrong: I still love my blog and the connection we’ve built over almost seven years. I continue to read recipes and gather experiences from a food blogger’s perspective, always scanning life for moments that might interest you and inspire me. Yet there was a missing piece.
A weekend in Val d’Orcia helped me find it.
I met Luisa last year at Juls’ Kitchen Lab along with her sister Martina. I was fascinated by her skill at making pici. Following her on social media, I discovered she lives in a tiny corner of paradise: her family’s Agriturismo il Rigo, nestled between Bagno Vignoni and San Quirico d’Orcia. Luisa welcomed us into a room with a four-poster bed—the kind you dreamed of as a child—placed a mason jar of wildflowers on the dresser and gave us a window framed by a painting-like view. She guided us through her Val d’Orcia: thermal springs, old apothecaries, hidden strongholds and deep family ties.
She arranged visits, small surprises and activities, moved by friendship and a sincere love for the familiar Tuscan landscape she calls home. But she did more than host.
The missing piece of my puzzle appeared in the wildflowers arranged in our room, in an ivy-clad brick wall, and in the meringue cake topped with garden strawberries and rosebuds she made for us one evening. It was real life.
When I think of the blogs I admire most—Vaniglia Cooking, Emiko Davies, Miss Foodwise, Rachel Eats, Orangette—what strikes me is how vividly they render reality. Their posts feel like honest slices of daily life conveyed through words, images, flavor and scent.
This change started in June during Annette Joseph’s food styling and photography workshop in Alassio. That experience made me question my approach, my voice and the style of this blog. I spent the summer exploring my expectations and, by October, I reached a conclusion: I want this blog to mirror my reality—an open window on my imperfect everyday life.
On Monday we visited Podere il Casale, an organic cheese farm run by a Swiss family on a hill facing Pienza. Reality welcomed us with the silver ring of sheep and goat bells, wild artichokes growing beside the track and a persimmon tree overlooking the valley.
Small, telling glimpses of real life. Not staged photos of an aspirational lifestyle, but authentic moments lived by genuine people. That is what I want to share here.
After a simple lunch of bread and cheese—does anything beat that?—we drove to meet three sisters who had changed their lives and started Fiori di Puscina, a wildflower farm. Authentic reality was everywhere: shears resting on a bench, a treehouse, a shed at the garden’s edge and a half-ripe grape still on the vine. I felt an urge to collect seeds, study wild herbs and flowers, and plant fruit trees in my own orchard. I wanted hands-on experiences I could write about when I returned.
I’ll share more about our Val d’Orcia weekend in the next post, with practical details on where to stay, where to eat and where to soak up the atmosphere. For now, I couldn’t wait to share this renewed perspective I discovered in the hills around Pienza.
To express this deeper bond with reality, I thought the perfect recipe would be a wholesome multigrain bread loaf. It’s made with whole spelt, whole rye and whole buckwheat flours combined with bread flour, water and olive oil to create a crusty, flavorful loaf.
Spread slices with orange marmalade or pumpkin jam, pair them with cheese and honey for a meal, or toast a slice at breakfast and watch the butter melt. The loaf keeps well: slice and freeze portions to enjoy wholesome bread whenever you like.
Multigrain bread loaf
Giulia
Ingredients
Poolish (Preferment)
- 250 g bread flour
- 250 g water
- 2 g fresh brewer’s yeast
Second fermentation
- 1 kg mixed flours, 300 g whole spelt, 200 g whole rye, 400 g bread flour, 100 g whole buckwheat
- 400 g poolish
- 500 g water
- 5 g fresh brewer’s yeast
- 20 g salt
- 50 g extra virgin olive oil
- 10 g malt
Instructions
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The night before, dissolve the fresh brewer’s yeast in the water. Add the bread flour and whisk until smooth. Cover and let the poolish mature at room temperature (about 18°C) for approximately 12 hours.
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The following day, put 400 g of poolish into the mixer bowl. Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water and add it to the bowl along with all the flours, salt, olive oil and malt.
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Knead with the dough hook for about 8 minutes on low speed, then 5 minutes on the next speed.
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Transfer the dough to a bowl lightly greased with olive oil. Fold the dough onto itself to build strength and help it rise. Let it rest in the oven with the light on for about one hour.
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After one hour, divide the dough into four loaves, place them on a floured surface and dust each with flour.
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Let the loaves rise in a warm room for about two and a half hours, until doubled in size.
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Preheat the oven to 230°C. Place the loaves on a baking tray, score the surface with a razor or sharp knife, and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 190°C and bake for another 25 minutes.
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Cool the bread on a wire rack. Store in a paper bag; it will keep well for several days.
Here you can find more information about poolish and how to use it for bread making. The term “poolish” is said to come from Polish bakers in Vienna, who developed prefermentation techniques later adopted by French bakers.
Italian Riviera workshop
I already mentioned how inspiring Annette Joseph’s workshop in Alassio was: it pushed me to rethink how I express my ideas, photograph and tell stories. Annette has launched a second edition of the workshop, which will take place again in Alassio in June.
Join us for a creative retreat on the Italian Riviera. This photographic retreat immerses you in Riviera life: stroll the palm-lined promenade of Alassio, taste fresh seafood and handmade pasta, and capture images that reflect this retro seaside town. Liguria—home of focaccia and pesto—offers endless inspiration. Connect with other creatives, relax and learn photo styling and photography in a beautiful setting.
June 8th–13th, 2016 at Borgata Cantone
(Registration closed March 1, 2016)
Find more details about the retreat and consider joining us. I will be teaching a cooking class and spending time with participants to learn, share and enjoy the experience together.