As a child, neighborhood chef Philomena Aceto listened to thumping on the ceiling while her Italian grandmother punched bread dough upstairs. Now she’s punching her own dough — her grandmother’s recipe, of course — and selling the loaves each weekend at the downtown Dallas Farmers Market. Aceto has spent years catering and teaching cooking classes, often incorporating her family’s recipes, but she recently decided to launch a complete line of Italian specialty products. What brought that on? “Insanity,” Aceto halfway jokes, adding: “Last year, I had my 50th birthday and thought, ‘What am I gonna do with the rest of the time I’m here?’” Bake bread, apparently. Aceto now spends the better part of each week hand-making roughly 50 loaves, which come in four flavors — like spinach with feta and kalamata olives or prosciutto with fig and gorgonzola. They’re sold pre-baked and frozen from Aceto’s booth in shed two, where she has a few samples to try before you buy. (Already, shoppers at the farmer’s market are calling her “the bread lady.”) Next on Aceto’s list: her mother’s Italian cookies and her grandmother’s olive salad.
For information, visit philomenafood.com or dallasfarmersmarket.org.
