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I have recently visited Costa Rica, and like many, fell in love with it and am thinking of relocating there. Because of limited time, I became familiar with only a small portion of the country.
If I do move there, I would like to open a pastry/breakfast shop that catered to both tourists and residents (maybe even supply area hotels and inns).
Any opinions from those who live in Costa Rica as to which towns/areas I should investigate on my next visit?
Although there are plenty of tourists, Jaco is not my style and San Jose too big. I want to be “the neighborhood baker”, not the city commercial baker.
There’s a guy named Willi who lives in Arenal who did just what you want to do — become the local baker — and he’s quite successful for having done so. Haven’t tried his bread tho, but he has a lot of customers. I’ve thought about doing a similar thing when I get down there permanently because I used to have a bakery that specialized in real Italian bread (26 different kinds) and I was a pastry chef in our restaurants. My big disappointment about Costa Rica is that there is no decent bread to be found anywhered that I’ve been. It’s usually loaded with chemicals and sugar and bears no resemblance to what I consider real bread, so I’m sure there are other people who feel the same way. the pastries I’ve seen all have transfats in them and other things that a human body should never consume. My husband is going to build me an outdoor bread oven (from a 14th century design) so I can at least bake bread for us and friends.
Italian bread! That’s what I’d really miss being down there. Fresh and still warm from a Bronx bakery…umm. You’re right Maravilla, the bread in CR just doesn’t cut it. The closest is a loaf of Spanish bread which looks similar in shape but it is a light tan in color. Even where I live they can’t bake a good Bastone. Delicatessens and supermarkets actually “import” Italian bread up from the Bronx because so many people want it here.
I also read that article about Willi. They call his bread “Willi’s Pan.”If my Italian husband gets my oven built, I’ll make you some REAL bread, the recipe for which I got from the baker for the White House, who spoke only Italian and not a word of English! It’s the real deal. Hmmmmm — Pane di Como, with a thick crust and lots of holes!
Yes, it was Willi’s Pan — I thought that was such a great story. Just shows that you can survive anywhere if you have some ingenuity and manufacture a product to fill a niche.
Well go ahead and tell him to get that oven done! Hone your baking skills in the US, then open your bakery in CR. This way we can have real Italian bread when we all get down there.
Can’t wait to taste the first loaf. But please no granola or whole grains in mine. I like it original. Organic flour is ok though.lolI only do original anything! And I’m looking for a source of organic flours now. I’ve already had a high-end bakery here in the States, so I just need to practice throwing that dough around. I’ve never used a wood burning oven though, so I hope I don’t burn down the campo!
From reading these postings, I will buy a copy of Julia Child’s baking show cookbook of several years ago and get busy immediately. Since I have 3 years before my move, I could become very good at turning out my own bread. I am an excellent cook, but I have always left the high end baking to local businesses when I lived in Seattle for many years and now in Portland.
I use to use a bread machine for several years, maybe I will consider a return that contraption as a stop gap appliance. Are the plans for the 14th century wood burning oven any where on the Internet?
Thanks,
Tom
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