Buns are just the beginning

Luigi and Kristy Papagni of Bacco's Bakeries in Murrurundi, in the upper Hunter Valley, are gearing up for one of their busiest days of the year: Good Friday.

Every year, drivers on the New England Highway pull in to the bakery to stock up on hot cross buns. The Papagnis expect to sell about 2000 over the long weekend, and have also been baking and selling them for the three weeks prior to Easter.

Italian-born Luigi and his Australian wife Kristy met at a youth hostel in Perth in 1999.

The business evolved from the kitchen of their Mosman apartment, where they made their first batch of taralli, the Italian-style crispbread rings that became the bakery's signature item. They also offer twiggies, or breadsticks, as well as biscotti and sourdough ciabatta.

Every year, they make a pilgrimage to Luigi's home town of Bisceglie in southern Italy."It's a real brainstorming time," Luigi says. "We are exposed to European traditional produce, we are more creative and come back excited."

They have recently introduced packets of sweet biscuits, made by a biscuit machine from England. Flavours range from the sophisticated (roasted almond, dark chocolate and orange zest; date and crystallised ginger; Belgian white chocolate, macadamia nut and lemon zest) to child-friendly, Smarties-studded biscuits.

The snacks should please pint-sized gourmands, thanks to rigorous quality control from the Papagnis' children, Isabella and Angelo. They approved the biscuits after the first day of production last month.

"Angelo ate his quietly and said 'That's a good biscuit' and he knows his food," Kristy says.

Megan Trousdale

Bacco's Bakeries, 13 Mayne Street, Murrurundi, 6546 6822, baccos.com.au. Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm, Good Friday and Easter Saturday, 8am-3pm.

Hot cross buns are only sold at the bakery but stockists of other lines include Paesanella, Haberfield; Beecroft Village Deli; Parisi's, Rose Bay; Knight's Meats, Wagga Wagga; A Tasty Surprise, Moree.