I came from living in a van to going all over the US and making pizza.

This little piece of dough, it's what started everything.

People call it sourdough, right?

My starter is a fermented agent that makes the pizza, all the bread, the proof.

My auntie is the one that gave it to me, this starter.

Then I came over here in the US, and I refresh it every day.

Now, it's part of every pizza at Pizzana, every Focaccia a.. It's in everything I do.

[music] When you make bread, you are dealing with living things.

Any living things for me reacts to your energy.

It's like if you wake up in the morning angry about yourself, about anything else, and you try to cook, nothing good is going to come out of it.

It's like, "Oh, you're going to be angry."

Then I'm not going to rise.

I'm not going to do it.

People think that I'm crazy because I speak to the bread.

When I see that it's not rising enough, it's like, "Oh, please, come on.

We need to go.

Services starts in three hour.

I need you to rise.

Come on.

Be a good boy.

Be a good boy."

Believe it or not, the bread rises.

I don't know why, but it works.

My auntie had an underground bakery.

Basically, in our house, we used to have a little oven down the basement.

It was an ancient oven.

We used to make bread and focaccias and all kind of cuts of bread for the delis in my little town.

I loved mixing the dough because everybody was putting their hands in the beautiful sticky dough, this wooden box.

A kid is drawn to mess, like why are they having so much fun?

It's like, I want to participate.

As soon they started to understand, I was starting to get a grasp.

I said, "Maybe we can save some labor.

Let's put him to work."

Child labor.

I'm a product of child labor.

That's who I am.

Basically, focaccia is the precursor of pizza.

Focaccia used to be a plate for ingredients to go on top.

One of the focaccia that we serve at Lele is made with Concerto Romano, which is one of the oldest cheese made by the Roman Empire.

It used to be served in Pompeii.

When you taste it, it's not super sourdough-ish.

It's more on the sweeter side.

That's a technique that has been in my family for a long time.

Also, it's in Caserta.

A lot of people use this technique.

When I came to US with that starter by my auntie, I jar it, close it, wrap it like a baby, and put it in my suitcase.

Hopefully, pray God that the custom didn't stop me because otherwise, I'd let you throw away.

The moment I passed custom and I knew that the starter was with me, I was like, "God, yes."

I made it because that's the foundation of all the bread and focaccias and all the flour products that I make.

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