A visit with Antonio Mattei

Antonio Mattei has been making biscotti in the same shop in the town of Prato since 1858. We paid a trip to their shop in 1995. These photos give you a sense for the seamless integration of the hands-on artistry with the efficiency of their well-used machines.

We have carried these biscotti for over ten years now and we have yet to find a biscotti that comes close.

Here, the handformed logs of fresh dough are getting an egg wash. Those lumps you see are the copious almonds spread throughout the dough.

The logs are further formed before they go into the oven.

The cooked dough comes out of the oven looking not unlike a crusty baguette!

An impressively fast machine renders the baguettes above into perfectly sized biscotti that are then packaged by hand in the Antonio Mattei trademark blue bags.

The bags are folded and hand tied with string to complete the finished product.