Come travel with sourdough bread baker Maurizio Leo to far-off (and sometimes close-by) lands in search of the best sourdough bread, pizza, and more. Trips take travelers in small groups to well-known—and sometimes off the beaten path—spots making and serving some of the best food in the area.
Or, take an upcoming sourdough workshop and work directly with Maurizio in the kitchen to make rustic loaves, pan breads, delicate brioche, and more.
Upcoming Workshops
Maurizio Leo and Graison Gill Artisan Baking Class at Wayfarer Bread
Description
When: Sunday,10/27, 3 – 9pm and Monday, 10/28, 4 – 8pm
Where: Wayfarer Bread Kitchen Bird Rock, CA
Who: Graison Gill and Maurizio Leo
Cost: $675 per person
Menu
- Rustico (Country-style sourdough) with white, high-extraction, and whole-grain spelt flours
- Baguettes with 50% whole-grain flour
- Focaccia with whole-grain flour and topped with local ingredients
- Ciabatta
- Seeded rye tin loaf with scalded flour
About the Bakers
Graison Gill has been baking and milling for 15 years and has taught worldwide. His passion for ecology, foodsystems, nutrition, and craft made him a finalist for a James Beard Award as the country’s best baker in 2020.
Maurizio Leo has been baking bread and helping others do the same for over a decade at the website The Perfect Loaf. His primary focus is on sourdough bread and pizza, and is the author of the James Beard Award-winning cookbook The Perfect Loaf
Upcoming Trips
The Perfect Loaf x TASTE Travels:
Bread in Puglia and Pizza in Naples with Maurizio Leo of The Perfect Loaf
September 21-28, 2024
Join Maurizio Leo, sourdough savant, educator, and author of the James Beard Award–winning cookbook The Perfect Loaf, for a week in southern Italy to discover the very best in baking—with plenty of bakery visits, restaurant discoveries, and hands-on instruction (we call it “dough time”) from one of America’s most celebrated bread educators. Puglia and Campania are two regions of Italy renowned for unique baked goods, and the weeklong journey will be filled with highlights for the carb-curious.
Puglia is home to everything from the famous Altamura bread to crunchy sourdough friselle and taralli snacks, while Naples, in Campania, is the birthplace of pizza. Need we say more? There will be plenty of hands-on baking time and the chance to meet with local bakers, pizzaioli, and artisanal food producers.
Join Maurizio and Matt Rodbard, founding editor in chief of TASTE, around the Italian table as they make and break bread together and lead conversations diving into the big food topics of the day. Guests will be treated to multiple tastings and enjoy camaraderie and conversation with fellow bread heads as they discuss flour types, sourdough starters, and baking tips from Maurizio and Italian artisans.Price:
Price:
Double Occupancy: $8,895 per person
Single Occupancy: $10,025 per person
Deposit: $500
Bookings for this trip are closed!
👋🏼 Interested in joining a future trip, class, or workshop? TPL Members get an early booking opportunity PLUS recipe archives, join the private baking community, and discounts on my favorite baking tools and ingredients. Come chat bread!
Be sure to sign up for the newsletter for newest information on future trips, baking workshops, and classes—two are in the works for 2025!
Itinerary
Day 1: Arrive in Italy
Arrive in Bari and transfer independently to the Masseria Montepaolo resort just outside Polignano a Mare. Guests will enjoy a welcome dinner of local breads and seafood at Terrazze Monachile. The remaining time in the evening is free to stroll in Polignano a Mare, perched on a sheer cliff overlooking the sea. Cap off the evening at the legendary gelateria in town, where you can sample chocolate, pistachio, and the favorite flavor of the day.
Included Meals: Dinner
Accommodations: Masseria Montepaolo
Day 2: Pane, Olio e Pomodoro
After breakfast, join Maurizio for a lesson in baking the typical Apulian sourdough rusk, friselle, among other baked goods. Maurizio will lead a workshop in which he will share techniques and talk about bread-baking principles, while answering questions along the way. While the breads bake in the wood-fired oven on the property, enjoy conversation with Maurizio and Matt about sourdough starters and the culinary adventure ahead. Today’s lunch in the garden will naturally feature freshly baked bread, as well as Apulian classics. After some time to rest at the hotel or enjoy a refreshing dip in the pool, set off by bus for the whitewashed hill town of Ostuni. Guests will enjoy a short, guided walk through the town as local inhabitants are partaking in the evening passeggiata (stroll). Dinner this evening will be at Masseria Moroseta, where the chef, Giorgia Eugenia Goggi, will curate a special wine-paired menu for the group, featuring produce from the estate and nearby food purveyors.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Accommodations: Masseria Montepaolo
Day 3: Pane e Formaggio
After breakfast today, head to Altamura, renowned for its sourdough with a high water content and a nutty flavor. Visit the historical artisanal bakery Di Gesù to learn how pane di Altamura DOP is made. Guests will discuss the grains and flour used, getting some serious “dough time” while learning about the local bread-baking techniques. After the bread is baked, guests will enjoy a picnic lunch featuring breads and local cheeses including Nerone, aged in Apulian figs and coated in caramelized organic oranges and Amore Primitivo wine. Enjoy some time at leisure in Altamura before visiting a local pasticceria to taste sweets, including sospiri pugliesi and tette delle monache. Continue to Bari and check in to your centrally located hotel. Dinner is at your leisure this evening. Tour staff will be able to provide restaurant recommendations for your independent culinary explorations.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodations: JR Hotels Oriente
Day 4: Taralli e Trulli
Begin today in Palo del Colle, the birthplace of taralli pugliesi. Learn the tradition of taralli, wheat-based crackers similar in texture to grissini, made from an unleavened dough and typical of southern Italy. Then meet with the flamboyant Mariangela Antolini, owner of an organic mozzarella business, and watch the cheese-making process at her farm. Taste typical cheeses over lunch, such as fior di latte and burrata. Continue to Alberobello in the afternoon. Enjoy some time at leisure to wander through this picturesque town filled with its 1,400 trulli (traditional cone-shaped, dry-stone houses). This city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. Your evening is free in Bari to wander the historic center of the city and see the pasta grannies making the local orecchiette pasta, or to pause at a local bar for some focaccia barese or panzerotti.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
Accommodations: JR Hotels Oriente
Day 5: Orecchiette
This morning, enjoy a guided walking tour through the historical center of Bari, pausing to learn about typical handicrafts. Enjoy lunch at a local trattoria to sample orecchiette pasta and other flavors of Bari cuisine. We drive to Naples in the afternoon (the drive will take approximately three hours). Check in to your hotel for the next three nights, overlooking the Gulf of Naples. Dinner will be enjoyed at a local restaurant.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: Hotel San Francesco al Monte
Day 6: Coffee and the Neapolitan Foods of Past and Present
Start the morning at Caffè Gambrinus for arguably the best coffee in town, served in the classic Neapolitan way. Fully caffeinated, embark on a walking tour around a local market to see the regional produce before rolling up your sleeves for a cooking class of typical dishes. Later, visit Antico Forno Attanasio, one of the sanctuaries of typical Neapolitan sweet treats such as sfogliatelle, pastiera, and babà al rum. A local food expert will lead a pizza crawl in the evening, visiting some of the best-known local pizzerias. Sample pizza a portafoglio (an icon of street food in Naples), pizza fritta (a bit like fried pizza or a deep-fried calzone), and pagnottiello (a local panino filled with cheese, pancetta, and salami). Along the way, Maurizio and Matt will compare and contrast these items with pizza back in the United States—American pizza styles versus the neo-Neapolitan movement.
Included Meals: Breakfast, Tastings, Dinner
Accommodations: Hotel San Francesco al Monte
Day 7: Pizza, Pizza, Pizza!
The final day of the trip is a real pizza intensive. In the morning, visit a local mozzarella producer to learn the process for making mozzarella di bufala and how it differs from some of the cheeses tasted in Puglia. In the late afternoon, depart Naples for the nearby town of Caiazzo. Celebrate your week of baking in Italy with a dinner at the world-famous Pepe in Grani pizzeria. Here celebrated and prized pizzaiolo Franco Pepe, who comes from a long line of bakers with a passion for dough, experimentation, and innovation, will treat you to a selection of award-winning pizzas. By the end of the evening, you can judge whether the Michelin Guide’s description of Franco Pepe as “a living patron saint of pizza-making” is accurate!
Included Meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Accommodations: Hotel San Francesco al Monte
Day 8: Arrivederci
Independent transfer to Naples International Airport. 👋🏼
Questions?
Please call or email Academic Travel with questions or for more information.
Email: [email protected]
Ph: 877-298-9677
Join The Best Group of Bakers on the Internet
👋🏼 Interested in joining a future trip, class, or workshop? TPL Members get an early booking opportunity on all trips and workshops. PLUS, get access to the recipe archives, join the private baking community, and discounts on my favorite baking tools and ingredients.
