The bread used to be better.
Yes, Homer already said it.
What does bread smell like?
I am often told “you smell like bread”. smell of home
Is this your home, this oven?
From two in the morning to two in the afternoon.
And what does your lady think?
She knows that I was born in the family oven, in the Trinitat Vella neighborhood.
Did you always want to be a baker?
I studied Fine Arts and wanted to be an artist.
what is art
“Helarte es morirte de frío”, and that’s why I approached the oven. The crisis of 2008 cut short my exhibition in a major gallery…
What unites the artist and the baker?
Creative passion.
How many different breads has he created?
A fortnight of new bread.
tell me some
I invented colored buns years ago: yellow (with curry), red (with tomato), green (with basil)…
Oh, I’ve seen these loaves…
Industry copied them; you can’t patent a loaf of bread. Yes, I offered my breads to great chefs: Berasategui, Dabiz Muñoz… I made them bacon bread, bread with miso…
And how did it go?
I ended up baking for fifty restaurants, including twelve Michelin-starred restaurants in Spain.
Twelve! And you no longer work for them?
Closed in the pandemic, I came out damaged. I prefer not to depend on it.
How did he save that hole?
With my panettone! It was awarded as the best p anettoned’ Spain.
What is special about it?
Its inner cavity, the high hydration with cream and French butters, the icing with sugar and hazelnut flour and its egg white…
I’m excited, friend Jordà!
Yes, I see the meupanettone from the inside, with its height, the concavity, the curve of its dome… My panettone is my Sistine Chapel!
Guardi’s the secret.
And now, I share my creations on Instagram and teach online courses .. . The secret is not in the recipe.
oh no where is it then
It consists of how you internalized and made that recipe your own.
I see quarter-of-the-day bars around here.
And my wholemeal farmer’s bread, too much.
Is it your favorite?
Tasty, satiating, digestive, nutritious…
Give me another one you like.
Rita’s Patonets chocolate brioches, for my daughter Rita when she was sick at the age of 12: look how tender they are and in pink boxes.
What did Rita have?
Leukemia, saved by long chemotherapy and very expensive drugs: my daughter Rita lives thanks to everyone’s taxes.
And long may this system last!
I launch campaigns on the networks with recipes and collect money for Sant Joan de Déu: it’s the best thing I do in my life!
And their Easter bunnies?
Panar paleontology! The old tuna: without butter, with olive oil and potato. I rescue old forgotten recipes.
Are there breads in danger of extinction?
There are: I make the old longuets, with a fold that can only be made by hand and with skill.
Did you learn it as a child at the family bakery in Trinidad?
Of course! My parents repeated “together we will do everything” and if they saw that I was getting tired they added “those who are tired do the work”.
What other breads do you continue to make?
Incunabula: this pintera bread from Teruel, or that of Campoo, or that of ribbon, which makes it easy to break. Like the baguette: razors were banned in Paris due to the rise of fights, and that’s why the hand-cut bar was born!
Suggest me a bread for breakfast.
Glass cake.
And another for lunch.
A campfire of a farmer’s bread.
And for dinner.
Rye bread, which can tie you in well with some smoked salmon, cheese…
Say goodbye with two more loaves of bread.
My spring bread: apricot orellanes, blueberries, strawberry chocolate. And the bread of the dead: in Mexico they eat it in the cemetery and give a piece to the dead; he brings orange juice and I make him arroyos.
The bakery is evolving and becoming very sophisticated, isn’t it?
Yes, more in the last ten years than in the previous sixty. I used to be a baker who couldn’t be anything else. Today the good baker needs high training.
Will their children be bakers?
No, they came out ready. My daughter will wear a white coat… but not a baker’s coat: Rita will be an oncology nurse.
