Chun(Pure) Zheng The other_Justin Bongiorni Photo Book/Photography

Justin Bongiorni

How the story started Allegro Hearth Bakery is at the corner of the street where I walk by every night when coming back home from school. The sweet smell from the store makes me think...what kind of life is the baker having? He/She must be happy surrounded by the bread and desserts. Being a baker has always been my dream job which probably never gonna happen in my life, so if there’s a chance I can know a stranger’s life, I want to know more about a baker. With that curiosity, I finally had the courage and walked into Allegro Hearth and asked if any baker wanted to work with me on a photo book. After a few minutes waiting, Justin walked towards me from the back of the store... —Chun Zheng

He is a really nice person to work with. He has a sense of humor that isn’t always immediately evident. — Mekenzee, Staff of Allegro Hearth

How long have you been working here?

12 years.

I actually have a baker certificate back in China, but it’s like very elementary desserts.

So you bake at home?

Have you tried baking bread?

Just once, I baked a very simple bread.

Don’t you feel sleepy late at night?

I never tried before, but I’m pretty sure I can get up that early. I will get up at 4am tomorrow morning heading for Detroit.

Yeah, sometimes.

How do you feel like getting up in the morning, 3 or 4 in the morning?

Do you also bake the cream puffs?

No...They bake them during the day with cookies and other pastries.

Puffs are my favorites.

The olive bread you gave me tasted good!

So you liked the olive bread?

Yes. I don’t typically like olives but they went well with bread.

Are you here alone all the night?

Are you going to sleep right after you get home?

Normally, the rest of the staff is done around 11pm and I’m here alone from that time. My wife also works here, she makes pastries during the day.

I will go home and sleep a little bit and then get up at 6:45am to get my son ready for school cause my wife comes into the work very early.

Once he’s at school, I go back and lie down for a while.

Ritual.

Challah has become a large part of my life, there is the weekly ritual of baking it every Friday, and Rosh Hashanah is one of the busiest times of the year at the bakery.

Stress relief.

Scoring the bread helps relieve stress from the loaf, so that you can shape how it bakes. I also find this process personally therapeutic in removing me from the stresses of my own managerial duties for a bit.

Meditative.

When I am baking the baguettes, everyone else is gone and I can just turn off the music, zone out, and bake some bread.

Accomplishment.

Removing finished loaves from the oven is very satisfying to me. I can see the end result of all of the work that my production crew and I have done for many to enjoy.

Hands.

Working with my hands is something that I really enjoy about my job, I feel that shaping dough by hand is sort of dying art, and I am happy to keep it alive here, and also pass these skills on to everyone who is a part of our production staff.

Tools.

We use a sieve constantly to get flour on the bench more evenly. The timer actually times the steam, and it’s alway 50 seconds as you can see. The light in the oven doesn’t work anymore, so the flash is used to see the back of the oven. The lame is the most basic tool to score the bread with the tips.

Pride.

Leaving for the night, I feel a sense of pride in supporting my family along with my wife, and maintaining a great place for several people to work. Oh, and also providing great bread for our retail customers and many restaurants around the city.

Can I ask why do you use the Spongebob cup? I love Spongebob.

I have a 12 years old son, and 2 years ago, he got me this so I use it. I’m also a big fan of Spongebob myself.

Did you make these yourself? They are amazing!

Yeah, I like to build legos, a couple of awesome lego sets that I have received as gifts.

So you drive here to work?

Yeah‌I also ride the bike, but I prefer to drive here at night or early in the morning, you know biking in the dark is not so safe.

Cool, I like biking too. I got a second-hand bike from Free Ride, a mountain bike.

I like to get outdoors as much as I can, biking, and hiking are a couple of my favorite activities.

Family.

The time off that I have to spend with my wife and son is the most precious to me.

Myself & The Other Justin: This is not something that I would typically sign up for, but Pure came in with so much enthusiasm, and a genuine interest in learning and documenting what I do that I decided to give it a shot. I am glad that she got up the courage to ask me to do this project. It has been a very positive experience for me.

Pure: Most of the time, I didn’t want to interrupt Justin’s work, so I just stood next to him, watching and taking photos.

He always said his work is repetitive and tried to offer me different time to shoot so I can always get new things. In fact, I like the regularity of the work and I started to understand the rhythm and logic behind it. I feel grateful that I met Justin and had this amazing project. At the time I met him, I was under a great depression and he always gives me feeling of peace and happiness. I’ve got used to spending 2 hours in Allegro Hearth every week and now, I will miss these days.