From The Family Behind Pronto Sandwiches
Our Story
Pronto Pane bread is now available in all Jewel, Pete’s Fresh Market, and Tony’s Fresh Market locations!
5 Locations In Illinois
the bakery
Pronto Pane is a Chicago-area artisanal bakery dedicated to crafting premium, traditionally inspired Italian breads that capture the soul of Tuscan and regional Italian baking. Best known as the maker of the signature schiacciata bread that powers the wildly popular Pronto Italian Sandwiches chain, Pronto Pane produces small-batch, high-quality loaves using time-honored techniques, imported Italian ingredients, and a passion for authenticity. Its flagship product is the crackly, golden schiacciata—a flatbread that sits perfectly between ciabatta and focaccia—along with sourdough pizza crusts in the same schiacciata style and hearty semolina breads that honor Sicily’s baking heritage.
Our Story
The story of Pronto Pane begins with Peter and Dana Burdi, longtime restaurateurs in Hinsdale, Illinois, and owners of the Italian restaurant Il Poggiolo. In 2022, while visiting their daughter Isabella in Milan, the couple discovered the magic of schiacciata at a tiny sandwich shop run by a local nonna. The bread’s light, airy interior, crispy exterior, and perfect chew left an indelible impression. Determined to bring that same experience home, they returned to Illinois and set out to recreate it. Local bakeries couldn’t match the texture or flavor, so Peter and Dana imported double-zero flour straight from Italy, teamed up with Chef Saul Maya, and spent months perfecting a proprietary recipe. The result is a bread that takes roughly four-and-a-half hours from start to finish—pressed by hand to control the rise, yielding those signature crevices, elastic air pockets, and irresistible crunch.
Master Baker
Rafael Hernandez
Rafael Hernandez is a master baker with nearly three decades of experience, now heading up production at Pronto Pane in Des Plaines, Illinois.
He started at just nine years old in his uncle’s bakery, and that hands-on beginning set the foundation for everything that followed. He’s worked at respected operations including Highland Baking, Z Baking, and Labriola Company Bakery, mastering everything from artisanal Italian breads like schiacciata and semolina loaves to pizza crusts, cookies, cakes, croissants, and donuts.
What sets Rafael apart is his training under some of the world’s best: Didier Rosada, the legendary French master baker and multiple-time coach of Team USA for the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie; Jeffrey Hamelman, author of the definitive bread textbook and former head of the King Arthur Baking School; Mike Zakowski, the award-winning Sonoma baker known as “Mike the Baker”; and Massimiliano Saieva, a leading expert in Roman-style pizza and Italian baking techniques.
Today at Pronto Pane, he’s bringing that elite-level skill to fresh, high-quality Italian breads that supply the Pronto sandwich shops and local stores. It’s a career built on passion, precision, and learning from the absolute best.
