I have always been enamored with Wildflour, specifically how they constantly manage to do things a notch better than usual.
Their offerings somehow look and taste better, prepared with a distinct flair and done their signature way—the Wildflour way.
Being one of the trendsetters in the industry, they have managed to reinvent themselves time and again, despite the pandemic, to provide their patrons with premium gustatory experiences.
According to Ana Lorenzana de Ocampo, this is not new. She said that even before COVID, “Wildflour has always changed with the times while striving to remain timeless, doing our best to stay ahead of the curve at every step.”
Due to the uncertainty of times, wildflourtogo.com became a priority. This way, customers are able to delight in their favorites within the confines of their homes.
Having made the website and the app user-friendly led to many innovations and newly established subbrands under the Wildflour umbrella. Wildflour Pizza is one of them.
‘Trust in our crust’
The newly relaunched and improved Wildflour Pizza is a welcome addition to the roster of pizza purveyors.
With pride, Wildflour Pizza states, “If you love our bread, you can trust in our crust.”
It’s made with flour flown in from Naples and sauce only made with authentic San Marzano tomatoes. Buffalo mozzarella is best fresh and organic and theirs is sourced from a farm in Bacolod where De Ocampo says they are as attentive to the cows as they are to their craft.
Parmigiano (24 months old) and Pecorino Romano are also added to the sauced crusts. The other ingredients are sourced locally (organic when possible) or flown in from Europe.
Once assembled, the pizzas bake in a superior brick oven brought in from San Francisco, California.
Though I am not a pizza fan, my son Diego is, and he claims Wildflour pizzas to be among the best. I agree.
Apart from the classics, savor the following: Vegetarian, Mushroom Béchamel, Italian Sausage (with béchamel, fennel, kale), Frutti di Mare (with clams, mussels, prawns, squid, octopus), and Hawaiian (homemade ham, pickled chili, and pineapple).
“It may be just another pie to others, but to us it’s a passion. A wild one,” De Ocampo said.
Now, there are also focaccias—soft, airy and light on the inside, crisp and crunchy on the outside. Two interesting variants are the mascarpone- and the truffle-cheese-spread-filled ones that are served dipped in honey.
Cremadettes
From Wildflour Bakery come the Cremadettes—crackling, caramelized puff pastries with a variety of fillings: custard, Nutella, pink guava, strawberry, ube, cream cheese, dulce and Key lime. They are to die for. Every bite is a sin. The caramel crackle, the crunch, the crumble, the flakiness, the sweetness, the richness of the custard and the satisfying mouth feel—the Cremadette is a guilty pleasure that I simply can’t get enough of.
The pastry originated at Wildflour’s Los Angeles-based sister restaurant Republique, owned by De Ocampo’s sister Margarita Manzke. The sisters longed for Parisian viennoiserie filled with their usual favorites that range from Nutella to matcha so they baked their rendition of it and the Cremadettes were born.
On my list to try is their polvoron! I didn’t even know that Wildflour Pantry existed, for your fill of ingredients and everyday favorites. Wildflour never ceases to amaze me!
De Ocampo shared their Caccio e Pepe recipe for a taste of Wildflour at home.
Wildflour Caccio e Pepe
250 g Wildflour Italian spaghetti or WildFlour campanelle (available at wildflourtogo.com) or good-quality dry spaghetti
100 g Pecorino Romano
200 g 24-month Parmigiano-Reggiano
100 g + 100 g butter
Salt for pasta water
Whole pepper (use a pepper mill)
Bring water to a boil. Season with salt generously. Cook pasta. Start making sauce five minutes before the pasta is done.
Crack fresh pepper for about 30 seconds from pepper mill directly onto a heavy-bottomed pan (about 1 Tbsp of pepper). Swirl and toast for about a minute without burning.
Add 100 g of butter and melt and continue to cook pepper in the butter.
Take a 4-ounce ladle and add about two ladles of pasta water into the butter and pepper. Bring to a simmer.
Swirl the rest of the butter and start whisking the water and butter together. Set aside until pasta is al dente.Scoop pasta out of the water and add directly to the sauce and start tossing pasta into the sauce.
Start cooking the sauce down until it starts coating the pasta. Make sure the sauce doesn’t break. You want it creamy; if it starts getting oily, add a little bit more pasta water from the pot.
Take the pan off the heat and add 100 g of freshly grated Parmigiano. Toss until the sauce has coated the pasta and the pasta isn’t oily. Keep adding pasta water to maintain the creaminess of the sauce.
Transfer to a serving plate and grate as much fresh Parmegiano-Reggiano as you want on top. Crack more black pepper for garnish. (wildflourtogo.com or download the Wildflour app) INQ
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