Bars displayed at María's bakery
Blogs, specialized forums and even an International Bakery Show held in Madrid: in recent times a whole phenomenon of social interest has arisen towards the essential food, bread . INNOPAN, the center specializing in bread technologies, has even created a tasting panel, where a select group of tasters differentiate up to 51 valuable attributes of each variety of bread. A job that elevates this historic food to the status of a gourmet product , possibly on the same level as wine, cheese, or oil. There is even talk of the sensory attributes of bread.
The ancient mixture of flour, yeast, water and salt recovers its value, it is sophisticated mixed with all kinds of seeds, nuts and vegetables and it prevails even in diets that until recently avoided it . Without going into the controversies arising from the so-called "bread boutiques", which sometimes offer low quality bread at high prices, we can say that the consumer is more informed than ever and can defend himself and make himself heard, if he thinks he has made a failed compare.
Madrid is one of the cities in which more bakeries have opened (and also closed) in recent years. In the capital we can see two more than interesting examples of this new phenomenon.
The flour place
FLOUR
Harina opened its doors in 2009, in the Plaza de Independencia, located in an area that lacks food stores in the surroundings and where, until recently, there were not even terraces. The spectacular view of the Puerta de Alcalá enriches a totally white space in which highlights the visible oven, and that, in addition to being a bakery, it is a restaurant.
Carmen Baudín, a journalist specializing in design, the promoter, celebrates the evolution of "her" Harina de Ella: a year ago they opened a "corner" in the Corte Inglés de Castellana, and this year they have just opened a second location in Chueca with a line similar to that of the original: total white with garden furniture and some industrial touch, such as the lamps.
Carmen is clear: does not pursue sophistication, but simplicity and the recovery of a bread craft . They make artisan sourdough bread, that is, without artificial yeast, as well as pastries without preservatives or dyes, French puff pastries and homemade cakes, such as the typical carrot cake. Wheat loaves (those of all life), dry tomato bread, olives, walnuts and raisins, firewood, Galician, rye, chestnut flour and even beer bread are successful.
MARIA´S BAKERY
María Calleja and María Fitz James, mother and daughter and two of the great communication professionals in Spain, have embarked on the adventure of the new bakery with María's Bakery. Maria Calleja remembers her lifelong passion for the smell of bread, eternal breakfasts, very careful details and fundamental snacks , and her pleasure in the tradition of the simple and the natural has led her to open a shop located in the central Zurbano street.
Maria's Bakery is tiny, but very cozy and warm and shows a certain french flair . There you can have a coffee, buy bread, pastries, cakes and savory products of the best quality. One of its bets is the variety: there are French, Argentinean, typical Spanish products, crumb sandwiches, sandwiches, pizzas brought from Italy, organic products and basically, a wide range of breads : wholemeal, homemade, gluten-free, onion, tomato, with olives, rye, with raisins...
The new bread of always has returned, and finds, among other proposals, its natural environment in two bakeries in Madrid that are governed by a value as powerful as it is timeless: the commitment to what is well prepared and served. Sometimes, curiously, the novelty is in the recovery of our best traditions.
The bread of always returns