The yeasty starter
Hot bolillos from the wood-burning oven
The best crunchy, tooth-teasing bolillos in Patzcuaro come from La Espiga where bread is baked daily in a wood-burning oven. This is a cottage industry, run in back of the home where the two brothers who run the panadería were raised. A total of seven people work in shifts around the clock. La Espiga makes a few sweet breads, but the bolillos are the signature item and 1800 are baked per day. Restaurants (such as the Camino Real) and hotels vie for half and the other half go to neighborhood palates. People wander in sporadically, one at a time, to help themselves, and usually pay with exact change.
To purchase the fresh morning bolillos, we floated in on the wafting aroma of fresh bread. The hot bolillos are best eaten immediately, slathered with butter and honey. I like whole grain breads, but I make an alacritous exception for the texture and flavor of La Espiga's delicious and crusty golden rolls. Provecho.
Cousin Michele (from France) and Glen listen to baker
4 comments:
Ah, so that´s where those things at the Gas Station Restaurant come from. They´re great. Bolillos, to me, mostly all taste the same, pretty good. But these are far better than average.
I usually say "Let's go eat at the Pemex..."
I am so hungry that my stomach hurts.....my favorite thing in the morning was the bread man on bicycle at the door in Rio and Guadalajara, so I look forward to great bread now in Patzcuaro.
La Espiga is special. Unfortuantely, it's a bit out of the way for us, but I occasionally get there early, before all the teleras are sold out. (Technically, bolillos are spindle shaped rolls with a longitudinal slash. You rarely find them in Pátzcuaro. Teleras are broader and flatter, and usually have two long impressions, made by a dowel. I believe the ones at La Espiga have but one.)
Yes; the secret to the great flavor is that slowly fermenting Masa Madre or masa reposada; then the wood fired oven gives ut that special crust and aroma.
I also blgged about this bakery on http://mexkitchen.blogspot.com/ a couple of years ago. There's even a short video!
Saludos,
Don Cuevas
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