Delicooks

> www.baluardbarceloneta.com

One of the simplest pleasures of the day for many people is to have a slice of freshly toasted  toasted bread first thing in the morning. What’s your favorite way to eat bread?
In the morning, bread with just butter or butter and jam; at lunchtime, with egg and chips; as a snack with chocolate cream; and at night as toast with tomato and olive oil, cold meats and sausages, cheeses, foie, and course, in good company.

What’s the secret to making good bread, the kind that keep their characteristic texture, smell and flavor?
It’s all to do with the process: allowing the dough to sit for many hours, the use of quality flour, proper baking. And you have to watch each and every stage of the processs very carefully.

You sell a great variety of breads. What’s the best way to make bread at home?
First of all, start with a simple recipe: 1 kg of wheat flour, 600 ml of water, 20 gr. yeast, and 18-20 gr. salt. Make sure you use only high quality flour and let the dough rest for a good while. The hardest thing about baking bread at home is the actual baking – household ovens are not like professional ones. But if you've taken care with the previous steps, you’re well on your way. The bread will taste great and will fill your house with a delicious aroma.

You decided to open a traditional-style bakery using traditional, time-consuming techniques. How has it gone?
At the time when I opened I opted to do the oppoite to what other bakeries were then doing: go back to basics and use traditional, but updated, techniques and the best possible ingredients. I was thrilled when the first bread I baked turned out to be exactly what I’d been looking for. And I’m thrilled that my customers love the bread too and always come back for more.


You’re a daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of bakers and you learned the art of making bread in the family kitchen. How easy is it to find professional bakers these days?
It isn’t easy to find good professionals, there are very few modern schools in Spain, and few students. As a trade, baking doesn’t draw in many young people, and there has been little transfer of knowledge between the generations. I’ve seen how hard my parents and grandparents worked, and how bad things were at times, which is why most bakers dream of doing something else. You’ve got to love this job. In fact, I studied a few different things at university but I kept dipping my hands back in flour! But things have changed a lot since then, and now it’s easier work.

I’ve been lucky to have an excellent team and I’d encourage young people to take up the trade these days because it’s a nice job and it’s well paid. I’d also encourage women to take it up even though at times it seems like a man’s world!

Is the traditional bakery in danger of disappearing?
It won’t be in danger as long as there are bakers who take pride in a job well done, and who love the profession.

It’s a tough job though and it requires commitment. Bakers might not be artists, but what we do every day we have to do with real dedication. Of course we innovate but ultimately we provide “the daily bread”, and people expect to find their daily bread the way they like it... mess around with their bread at your peril!

In many restaurants, bread has become quite a sophisticated thing. Do you like this new approach to bread?
I believe that bread has its place, deserves attention. It can be sophisticated or not as long as it’s as good as the food. There are many restaurants that pay special attention to their bread, some who make excellent quality bread themselves. There are also many restaurants who have made an art out of presenting or slicing the bread. One of my clients has a restaurant here in Barceloneta and you should see how they serve bread: they open the baguette, coat it with tomato, oil and herbs, then cut it into long strips!

What’s your favorite bread?
I like simple breads, with few ingredients apart from the basics. Wheat bread that tastes of bread and with hints of depth. There is a phrase I like in the book by Peter Reinhart, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, where he advises his students to strive for a taste of cereal. To me that's  it.