Grea's baking adventures

Coconut roll, Photo by Gleen Espiritu of Silver Moon Rising.

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

Some are just born luckier than the others I guess and this adage holds true for Grea Tulio- Penella.

She once owned a bakery called the Downhome Baking Co. for two years at zero cost and a hundred reasons. It was given to her by artisan baker Christine Strzepek. 

Grea didn't ask for it. She was just there at the right time armed with her family's exceptional record in the food business and her talent as a multi-tasker and dreamer. 

Grea told me that Strzepek gave her the bakery because she wanted to spend more time with her mother, who was suffering from ALS/LouGehrigs Disease.

Knowing that her mother's time won't be long, Strzepek entrusted the bakery to Grea. “She told me her husband started traveling on weekdays and she needed to be around for her kids,” Grea said.

Grea said Strzepek didn't want to close down the bakery because she had grown to love her female employees and wanted to ensure their continued employment. 

“They were and are like family. I asked each of them if they were interested in taking over and they were not. I was looking for someone with drive that would continue what I started. The skills were already with my staff,” Grea quoted Strzepek as telling her. 

Grea with one of her Italian breads

Strzepek helped Grea hone her skill in handling flour and baking. “It was tough personalized training,” Grea said. 

Strzepek graduated at the Golden State Culinary School in Sacramento, California then moved to North Carolina and went to Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC).

She also went to King Arthur for their Master Bread Baking Classes and she passed all her knowledge and skills to Grea. Due to rental costs, she canceled her bakery's name and started the Grey Oven.

I just assumed Grea brought with her the bakery staff at the old bakery to Grey Oven. I didn't ask anymore since if I ask her one question you get long answers. (Peace Grea).

Remember I told you that Grea is no baker in the Philippines. The first time she laid eyes on flour was when when she came here to North Carolina several years back. 

From then, she became enamored of flour and baking as a whole. The time she opened the Grey Oven with cousin Dustin Delantar she has no formal training, only the teachings from Christine. 

Through hard work  and focus, Grey Oven  has been featured in Fort Mill Magazine and Ballantyne Magazine in 2013 as a participant in an exclusive growers only Farmers Market. That mention gave her some street credibility and reputation so to speak.

Grea went back to the Philippines and learned from the popular cook Sylvia Reynoso Gala who taught her international pastries and breads in the summer of 2007.

Now with her cousin Dustin Delantar, customers can place orders of their favorite bread at the Waxhaw farmers market or make their orders at 18 Asian Sushi and bar owned and managed by Grea's husband Paul Penilla.

“I've found my love for bread baking when I buried my hands in the flour.... I fell in love with it,” she said. Her cousin Dustin's influence also helped her in her craft. 

Grea with her cousin Dustin Delantar

Dustin Delantar trained in New York City's Le Bernardin (French Seafood cuisine) in January 2005 and Sfoglia (rustic Italian restaurant) in April 2006. Grea's best sellers at Grey Oven are focaccia, Italian boule and stirato.

She described focaccia as made with unbleached bromate free flour with Italian herbs and extra virgin olive oil while Italian boule (ball shaped bread) is crusty on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. “Stirato is the Italian version of the French baguette,” Grea said. '

She told me that she was baking pan de coco since 2011 in that old bakery. To her it's the most delectable Filipino bread “because the name is familiar.” Pan de coco is coconut bread or bread that contains shredded coconut meat and coconut trees happen to be plentiful in the Philippines.

Still, Grea said customers love Grey Oven's Filipino cheesy bread and pan de coco second. She wanted to incorporate a Filipino touch to her Italian bread and I suggested that she makes “FIAT” bread.

My idea is “FI” would stand for Filipino and IT for Italian and the word FIAT means money. Not bad huh Grea? But wait, her other best seller happens to be pan de sal.

Pan de sal here in North Carolina? I could hardly believe it, but Grea told me a lot of people make pan de sal in North Carolina and anywhere else in the US. Here in Charlotte, North Carolina, Grea's Grey Oven sells the best pan de sal.

For the record, the Grey Oven is a home based kitchen that is certified by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

In learning how to make the perfect bread, Grea said it took a “couple of months of constant tweaking and achieving the perfect recipe.” “The first version was too sweet or something was yet to be desired,” she said.

After many days, Grea achieved her perfect bread.  “You can find us every first Saturday of the month at Waxhaw Farmers' Market at 9 am to 12 noon,” she messaged me.

Grea and her partner cousin Dustin Delantar are also picking up orders for interested buyers.

For those wishing to learn how to bake the perfect pan de coco, Italian bread or any type  of brea, they can email Grea or Dustin for an appointment at thegreyoven@gmail.com. They can also follow the Grey Oven's Facebook page at Facebook.com/thegreyoven. 

Photo by Gleen Espiritu of Silver Moon Rising

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis. You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/)https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)