Of course I do. My morning rituals are definitely coffee. I don’t wake up without it. Or rather, I wake up with the thought that I’ll make coffee in a moment. So the first thing is brushing my teeth, and right after that I turn on the espresso machine and brew coffee. I’m lucky enough to be able to have breakfast with my family, which is very important to me – if not the most important part of the day. Those are my morning rituals. And after that, whatever the day brings.

Sure. If I have a very intense day with lots of meetings or a lot of work, there isn’t always time for it. However, in ninety percent of cases I try to make time and eat breakfast, which usually consists mainly of eggs and good bread. If I’m in a rush, it’s probably some oatmeal or granola. I don’t want to say I eat monotonously, but I do eat quite similarly very often.

Not always. Now I’m going to justify myself, because later my wife will laugh at me. I baked it on this occasion, but I do try to bake at home – bread is very important to me. Because of where I live – I live in the countryside, not in a metropolis with fifteen fantastic bakeries – I have to take care of it myself. Unless I were to leave very early in the morning and spend half an hour driving to a good bakery. I’d rather spend that time here in the kitchen, baking my own bread. And yes, it’s a great thing.

Above all, working with sourdough – and of course with dough as well – but it’s really the sourdough that is something incredible. Sourdough is sensitive to many factors: temperature, time, and the way you care for it.

It’s a bit like a living organism – you have to look after it, because depending on how you treat it, that’s the result you get the next day after baking. It’s something you wait for all night. For me, this process is very important and very intimate.

Yeasted dough is different – it can be prepared relatively quickly. Bread is at least five hours of work. Of course not continuous, but rather checking on it, caring for it, observing it. It’s a process. With yeasted doughs, it’s much faster, less demanding, and more focused on details.

You can’t really combine those two, because something I could eat every day would probably end in severe obesity. But I’m a huge fan of doughnuts – that’s my guilty pleasure, something I allow myself from time to time. As for something I bake fairly often at home, it’s challah or brioche – simple yeasted dough, usually without any additions. For me, the additions come later: my own jam, or some nut spread.

If there’s a lot of work, there’s usually no time to cook. If there’s a bit less and I can afford to cook at home, then I do. I enjoy it, so at least breakfasts are my morning escape – first I focus on that, and only then do I get to work. Lunches less so – that’s usually my wife’s domain. But I do like cooking dinners, especially for family and friends.

If my wife were listening, she’d probably say I cook just to show off. Not at all – it simply gives me great pleasure. I like dinners that are a bit more elevated: someone comes over, we plan it, I invite people to our home. We have a fantastic table that easily seats ten people. Usually I’m the one cooking and standing by the pots, and then comes that moment when I’m sitting, sipping coffee, while everyone else cleans up. Something for something.

The smell of caraway seeds strongly reminds me of visiting my paternal grandmother. When you entered her house, steam with an intense caraway aroma would pour out from the tiled stove. There was always broth on the stove and five other things cooking at the same time. That’s the smell of home for me.

Fresh yeasted dough, on the other hand, reminds me of my wife’s family home. By the way, my mother-in-law bakes the best yeasted cakes, always “by eye.” I completely don’t understand measuring “by eye,” but the result is phenomenal.

Yes. Since I work in gastronomy, professional kitchens require that. Of course, when I cook, I like to experiment a bit. But with baking, I have to be precise – 20 grams of this, 30 grams of that. In general, the proportions of ingredients like fat, yeast, or water have a huge impact on how the dough behaves. These are things you can control, and I like having control over them.

When you make a great sauce, you often want to add something extra – something you can’t really weigh, because you feel that two extra drops of vinegar can completely change its flavor profile. With baking it’s different – here I try to weigh everything precisely.

First of all, I take care of the garden – although that’s more of a daily necessity than a hobby. We have a small garden by the house, and there’s always something to trim, replant, or tidy up. Recently, though, I’ve been absorbed in labeling jars of Dopamine – spreads that I’ve recently started producing with my business partner. The greatest joy for me is being a dad. That’s probably my favorite activity and the best time of the day, and honestly, I wish it for everyone.

When we have more time, we like to go on short trips nearby, take walks, and spend weekends actively. There are really plenty of places to discover, so we try to take advantage of that as much as possible.

Of course. For example, fish shawarma. It’s just mind-blowing in terms of flavor combinations and presentation. It was chopped fish in a sauce based on orange and citrus in general. Alongside it, there was pita or some other bread, and it was fantastic. I never thought you could make a kebab out of fish, and yet someone did.

There are lots of such discoveries every time, and they usually happen when I travel. Recently, London also surprised me culinarly. A lot of different things surprise me. I think that you’re constantly learning, constantly discovering, and therefore you can be surprised endlessly.