D'Amato's Bakery--It's The Coal.

I walked up to D'Amato's yesterday just in time to watch the coal for their ovens being delivered:

The coal is of a much finer consistency than I've seen before; no more than an inch or two in diameter. As I was buying my bread, the woman at the counter said she believes it's delivered by the same company used by Coal Fire Pizza down the street.
Am I the only one who didn't know D'Amato's bakes with coal?

D Amato's Bakery
1332 W Grand Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(312) 733-6219

Paul SL wrote:Am I the only one who didn't know D'Amato's bakes with coal?

Maybe

Joking aside, terrific picture, really terrific.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Joking aside, terrific picture, really terrific.

Thanks. For some reason, I usually take better pics with my cell phone than with my camera.

The coal is double screened stoker coal, most likely 1 1/4" X 1/4", probably from Eastern Kentucky. I sold coal for 25 years, brings back memories.

Great shot, Paul SL.

I occasionally listen to old radio shows on long drives, that sort of thing, and one wartime show was hawking "buckwheat coal." I take that to be little tiny scrap pieces, which they were probably trying to get people at home to use so they could save larger pieces for steel plants and the like. Anyway, an interesting reminder of how different our world is, wonder the last time anyone ran a commercial for coal aimed at the average homeowner.

There were many sizes of domestic (for home use) coal. If memory serves me right, from smallest to largest was: rice, pea, nut, chestnut, stove, egg and lump. Most domestic coal was branded at the mine by either tossing little paper or aluminum tags into the train car as the coal was loaded or by spraying paint on the coal as it loaded. "Great Heart" coal had little paper hearts, "Green Mark" coal had globs of green paint all through it. Coal dealers played lots of games, they would buy "generic" coal and toss tags that they had filched out of previous loads, they'd spray their own paint. If you asked for a certain kind of coal, they'd come up with a way to convince you that that's what you were getting. More than you ever wanted to know.

IN the GNR thread there was some question about whether the D'Amato's bread one can buy at retailers (such as Harvestime) around town is similar to what you can buy at the Grand Avenue store.

I was in the Grand Avenue store the other day and asked. I was told that the stuff sold around town is identical to what they sell. Obviously, not every product is available everywhere. I've only seen the 2 lb sourdough loaf, the tomato focaccia, and maybe one or two other things at Harvestime.