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Mancini Bread is an artistic creation that you can eat. The bread's golden, shiny crust encases a soft white texture. The middle is fine grained and cream colored. The taste is unique. The bread is made from simple ingredients that are of the best quality.
Each twist loaf is hand scaled and hand crafted. Our professional bakers operate with the speed and skill of an Indianapolis 500 race pit crew. No two loaves are exactly the same. Each loaf bears a trait that is the personal signature of the craftsman who formed it.
It takes four hours and fifteen minutes for Mancini Bread to be created. The long waiting period is important because it lets the natural process of fermentation work its wonders. The rest time and large batches are responsible for Mancini Bread's great flavor.
No preservatives or stabilizers are used in Mancini Bread. The flour we use is unbleached and naturally aged. The only problem with Mancini Bread is that it has a short shelf life. However the problem can be changed into an opportunity by using the day old bread to create tremendous spin off products like, brochette, garlic toast, French toast, bread crumbs, stuffing and croutons.
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Mancini Bread originated in 1926 when James Mancini, an Italian immigrant opened a one room bakery in McKees Rocks, PA. At the age of fourteen Jim apprenticed himself to a baker. After mastering his trade, Jim, who loved to experiment, developed his own bread formula. He rented a space and began a tradition by baking 100 loaves a night and then delivering the fresh bread to his customers the next morning. The "twist " bread was his trademark. Jim's father, Frank Mancini, noticed his son's industry and built a small bakery building in the West Park section of McKees Rocks for him.
After World War II Jim's brother, Ernie joined him as a partner in the bakery. The two brothers enjoyed a successful partnership until Jim's retirement. Ernie's son, Frankie, joined the firm in 1971 after graduating from the University of Miami and the Dunwoody Institute of Baking in Minneapolis.
Frankie inherited his uncle's love to experiment and developed the formula for Mancini's Famous Raisin Bread. Sadly Frankie died in an accident in 1977. Keeping up the family tradition, the bakery is now owned and operated by Mary Mancini Hartner, Frankie's sister and Ernie's daughter.
Although Mancini's now bakes more than ten thousand loaves a day, the bakery still utilizes most of the same Old World techniques, which Jim Mancini practiced in 1926. The bakery employs forty-eight people and operates twenty-four hours a day except for Tuesday and Saturday afternoons.
Presently there is a retail shop at the bakery on Woodward Avenue and Sixth Street. The bread is also delivered to restaurants, grocery stores and hoagie shops in the Greater Pittsburgh area.
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Pittsburgh Live, March 2004
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, June 2003
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, April 2003
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, January 2003
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, January 2001
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