Gluten free restaurant Puglia Bakery

Italy Gluten free Food Tour with Niepi: Milan

Here it is a newly opened gluten free restaurant in Milan: Puglia Bakery.

On the occasion of the Italy gluten free Food Tour that I organised for the French magazine Niepi, I started to make some researches on line to find places that will correspond to my criteria (good+good+good…) and there I bumped into the internet page of Puglia Bakey. And there I was smitten! The food pictures were so tempting, I could see the AIC logo (Italian Celiac Association) well in evidence, that reassured me that there would be no cross-contamination with gluten, and, I have to confess, I do love food from Puglia!

Puglia is a beautiful region in the South of Italy: it is renown for the sea, the sun, the nature, the architecture, the olive oil and great tasting food.

I was so happy that now I could find and enjoy a gluten free version of it.

At Puglia Bakery, Frédérique from Niepi and I, we met with Simonetta Nepi, founder and president of a fantastic Italian project called Gluten free Travel & Living. I do recommend you have a look at its website: it is full of precious advice and interesting articles on gluten free. It’s in Italian though but sometimes pictures can speak by themselves. I love creating opportunities for people to meet and get to know each other. I think that is so inspiring and enriching for everybody. I was definitely happy to have made Frédérique and Simonetta meet and be their interpreter during our lunch.

During our chitchat small plates but big treats started to arrive on the table I was literally in awe! The gluten free artisanal bread was delicious: crunchy outside and moist inside. We tasted also other specialties from Puglia like the burrata, a salad of octopus, stuffed mussels, « fave e cicoria » that is a pure of fava bean with chicory. Then we also had a typical focaccia from Puglia made of potatoes and stuffed with ham and mozzarella, yummy meatballs cooked in tomato sauce, stuffed eggplants. Everything was fresh, perfectly seasoned, and utterly delicious!

Another specialty at Puglia bakery is gluten free pizza available in the evening. The dough is left to rise for 24h and then it is baked in a stone oven.

One very good reason for me to be back one day soon and try the pizza!

Desserts are all gluten free and vary according to the season and the chef’s creativity.

When we arrived, there were brownies, a blueberry cake and cheesecake, one of my favourite cakes ever.

When we finished I was left with one only wish: congratulate Besa, co-founder of Puglia Bakery along with her husband Fabrizio.

Fabrizio is from Puglia and he discovered he couldn’t eat any more gluten a few years ago. Along with Besa, they spent two years re-inventing recipes to make gluten free food that was great, according to their standards. They worked hard and today they decided to share what they learnt and the great gluten free food they are able to make by opening a restaurant four months ago.

I do wish them all the best on this project because they deserve it and to me, I wish I could go back and eat their gluten free pizza soon!

pS Would you like a gluten free recipe to make some typical gluten free focaccia from Puglie ? Well, I might have one that is just right for you, have a look at it here.