· Cooking and professional machines: technology and IoT are the winners

· Leavened goods: space for quality products and alternative flours

· Festive sweets, panettone is the worldwide winner (almost)

· The Smart Label Innovation Award returns to HostMilano 2021, the award for innovation

From raw materials to the finished product; from dough making machines to ovens, quality and innovation are the two keywords of a sector such as that of baking, which returns as a key player at HostMilano (scheduled at fieramilano, from 22 to 26 October 2021). Less than a year after its ribbon cutting ceremony, this event once again confirms its role as a global hub of professional hospitality, able as it is of playing the role of international networking platform for all the stakeholders of the supply chains belonging to the Ho.Re.Ca. world.

Baking and cooking: with or without IoT

Luxury and sustainability, new trends and consumption dynamics, unprecedented market scenarios and increasingly specialised professionals, such as the growing level of attention from chefs to the world of the bakery. Never before, has the entire bakery and pastry supply chain in fact been able to renew itself like it can today, starting with the increasingly significant presence of technology. This is demonstrated by what has happened on the cooking front, where the use of flexible machines, capable of giving precise, consistent results, can make all the difference. At the heart of it all, there is a reduction in time and energy consumption, as well as an increase in functionality, that can be achieved through artificial intelligence, useful for the online control of parameters and programmes. A trend, that of the Internet of Things, which is paired with digital devices, but also intended to be used in small bakeries.

Baking: between flour and luxury pastries, evolution never stops

The trend is the same, pretty much everywhere. Customers who turn to the world of baking are now looking for a quality product, be it bread, pizza or pastry. “Precisely for this reason, at the next edition of HostMilano we want to contribute to spreading the culture of quality and innovation also in the world of pastry on an international level with a direct look to the future”, explains, for example, the world Master pastry chef Iginio Massari, who after last year’s success, will return to the fieramilano Rho stands with his format dedicated to luxury pastry making.

But the transformation that is working its way through the world of pastry is also touching the world of bakery, as confirmed by Host's “antennae” - including ambassadors and buyers - located in the four corners of the world. Here the trend talks about preparations with alternative flours - from the turmeric-flavoured gluten-free pizza (created for people with coeliac disease), to products prepared with gluten-free flours and legumes - and the rediscovery of forgotten ingredients, such as stoneground wholemeal flours or those made from pumpkin or spelt, used in rotation in order to always have a different product on offer. Not to mention the real “boom” recorded by the number one ingredient: sourdough starter. “I keep it in both solid form and as a cream and I use it mainly to make bread, pizza, brioches and large leavened products such as panettone or colomba cake”, explains Renato Bosco, for example, who boasts an “old” sourdough strain that is some 90 years old. Yes, because what was once used only for large leavened products has now been rediscovered to mix with different products. As Claudio Gatti, President of the Accademia dei Maestri del Lievito Madre e del Panettone Italiano (Academy of Masters of Sourdough Starter and Italian Panettone) explains, “The activity of the Maestri del Lievito Madre has always focused on increasing public awareness of the importance of the quality of the raw materials used for the preparation of leavened products and panettone. For this reason we are also working on the first edition of the Panettone World Championship, after the ‘test show’ of 2019”.

All the festive desserts, around the world

Alternative flours, new preparation methods, ingredients such as sourdough starter are fine. But dictating the times in the world of baking, and it could not be anything else at the head of the queue but panettone - the typical holiday cake at this time of year. Today it is also appreciated abroad - as evidenced by the Ambassadors and buyers at HostMilano, who provide us with insights, new products and trends 365 days a year - from the classic version with candied citrus fruits, to alternatives with candied capers, almonds, raisins flavoured with Malvasia, or with white figs from Cilento and dark chocolate. The landscape in the United Arab Emirates is more varied, where a wide range of eclectic foods arrive together with the various religious faiths: from the “mince pie” to the rum cake; from gingerbread biscuits and trifle to German Stollen; from the Goan Kulkuls to the Kuswar of the Mangalorean community of Karnataka, also in India.

In Japan, on the other hand, the traditional Christmas cake is a sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries. Families gather for a traditional celebration at the New Year: here the traditional foods are called Osechi Ryouri and each one is a wish for the new Year. Finally, across the Atlantic, panettone is back in fashion, becoming the Christmas cake par excellence. This is even the case in the United States and in Canada, where there is no shortage of more “local” specialities: from the “ginger bread house”, the classic sugar pie typical of the French-Canadian tradition, to the Ugly Christmas Sweaters. And then two legendary cakes: the timeless Apple Pie and the Butter Tart.

At HostMilano, business rhymes with innovation

HostMilano is confirmed as a real hub of innovative equipment on a global level. The SMART Label project is back for 2021, recognising innovation in the hospitality sector, promoted in collaboration with POLI.design and sponsored by ADI, the Association for Industrial Design, which is attributed to those products / services / projects that emerge for distinctive characteristics in terms of functionality, technology, environmental sustainability, ethics or social implications.

Making Host Milano's proposal even more irreplaceable, was also the launch of the Fiera Milano Platform, providing, among other things, a strengthening of the content of the sites and social media of the event, a synergy between physical and digital (first and foremost webinars) and the production of redesigned catalogues for the presentation of exhibitors' products. Finally, there is no shortage of agreements favouring exhibiting companies that Fiera Milano has signed with several credit institutions. In addition to this, exhibitors can also access the contributions and support provided by Sace Simest for the participation in fairs and exhibitions in Italy.