La Cremita: the bread chef is in Chiclana
Crackling bread with Payoya goat cheese, butter croissant with zurrapa, Gadira tuna loaf with tomato, or shrimp omelette scolding. Have you started compulsively salivating just by reading these first two lines? Ha! Well get ready, because what's coming, you're going to like it.
Because this absolute fantasy of the most authentic Cadiz flavors is not the fruit of our ingenuity: all of it is the harvest of the immense culinary creativity of Dani Ramos, a young man from Chiclana de la Frontera who landed years ago in the universe of sourdoughs and fermentations ready to revolutionize the world of bread. And, needless to say, he did.
So much so that the most renowned chefs in the province did not hesitate for a second to start entertaining their guests with the greatest delicacies that came out of the Chiclana ovens. From Alevante by Ángel León to Lú Cocina and Alma by Juanlu Fernández, passing through Mantúa by Israel Ramos —all of them Michelin stars from Cadiz—, have been showing fidelity to their good work.
Also, of course, great classics such as El Campero in Barbate, El Faro de Cádiz or Los Marinos José, in Fuengirola: today there are more than 20 restaurants that serve La Cremita bread daily.
Dani and Maria Angeles
The secret of success, key in each and every one of the aspects of life, is simple but not simple to fulfill: bet on the best raw material, feel passion for the work and be very constant in it.
“We try that everything is a product of here, of our land, because we give importance to what is ours. For example, to make cheese bread we started looking for Payoya de la Sierra goat cheese and found Sunday, from Puerto Serrano, that he is a very small producer who makes spectacular cheese.”
The one that speaks to us is Mari Ángeles, Dani's wife and the other 50% of this project full of soul who has seen how bread has not only changed their own lives, but also that of their neighbors, who have learned to value what they offer.
Wood ovens working at 100%, boxes with seeds, fermenting sourdough... here, it doesn't stop!
“Before, people were very reluctant. He asked all the time: 'And don't you have regular bread?' But it was because they had no culture on this subject. With day-to-day work we have made today different: during the week we have many customers who come to buy from us and on weekends it is already crazy. It is clear that for this type of bread, there is a type of client”, comments Dani himself while, in a corner of his workshop, he strives to chop, one by one, several kilos of Chiclana pork rinds for his star recipe: the pork crackling bread — oh, my god.
Flavors of a unique land that are mixed with that other ingredient that they take care of in every detail: the flours they use —600 kilos a day, that's nothing— do not contain improvers, or additives, nor are they refined.
The bread chef is in Chiclana
They opt for very slow fermentations, for the sourdough cultivated —of which Dani claims to even have “a backup”—. Why? They have it clear: because only by offering quality, people respond as they are responding to them until now, worshiping their bread as if they were authentic gods.
The beginning of this exciting adventure goes back, however, to approximately nine years ago. At that time La Cremita was a cake business, and the couple ran six confectioneries distributed throughout different municipalities of Cádiz.
They had made sure that quality prevailed over all things in their sweets: butters from Normandy, pure couvertures and an endless number of conscientiously chosen products led them to become great confectioners.
Then one day enlightenment came in the form of a challenge. “It was after speaking with Juanlu Fernández, when he was still working as Ángel León's second in Aponiente. He asked Dani why he didn't start making bread too, but Dani said that he didn't want to get involved in that war. He then told her about cultivated sourdough and Dani came home thinking about it, he started searching the internet, took courses in Barcelona... and there was no turning back ” , recalls Mari Angeles.
"He has always liked to innovate, he always gets tired of what he does and what is poorly done, he does not do it," she concludes. Because working hard has always been in the DNA of both, and it is perhaps that, precisely, the fundamental ingredient of his triumph.
As soon as they got down to business and launched into the world of bread, they realized that, to do things right, they needed more space. They decided to expand their workshop and acquire a neighboring warehouse.
The business has evolved so much since then that they are now immersed in new works to expand the bread office. Although, yes, there is something that has not changed: As soon as you walk through its doors, the aroma of its products takes over everything.
Today there are more than 20 restaurants that serve La Cremita bread daily
At the door, the neighbors waiting their turn to get the loot of the day is almost perennial: if they get too confused, the most acclaimed products are sold out.
Further inside, activity flows: wood ovens working at 100%, workers carrying trays with the greatest delicacies from one side to another, sponge cake plates, boxes with seeds, fermenting sourdough and timers warning that, here, it does not stop.
Not even to do interviews, because time is money! So while Dani deals with other things, we keep asking her: Where do you get the ideas for proposals that are as risky as they are appetizing? He reveals to us that, on occasion, it is about a joint effort with the chefs of the restaurants themselves, who challenge him to create.
This is how it arose, for example, at the beginning of its history, the scolding of shrimp tortillas that became popular thanks to Aponiente. “We are like the tailor who creates custom for cooks,” he says.
“When a restaurant asks us for something and we do it for them, we maintain exclusivity. Once they stop using it, we can sell it to other restaurants. Of course, in the office here we always try to have these products because people come looking for them”.
much more than bread
What no one imagines is the immense research and trial-error work that goes on behind each of his proposals. Hours and hours dedicated to improving the recipe until reaching the ideal proportions; until achieving an unbeatable elaboration.
“Dani starts the day every day at 3 in the morning and dedicates himself body and soul to doing endless tests; when he takes it out it's a success, but no one knows what a fight there is. He now he has brought out the fried egg scolding , for example, that he has ordered it from a restaurant: We have tried making the fried eggs, then we have crushed them, we have dehydrated them, then it turned out that we liked the first way better…. And so on until I hit the key” confesses Mari Angeles.
The best artisan bread in Cádiz!
What is clear is that it is talking about bread, and Dani's face lights up, "It is a living matter, a form of cultivation, the masses are greatly affected by temperature, humidity... and that means you never stop learning . It's what I'm passionate about: it's not monotonous, there's something new every day”.
Like the grissini of kikos or those of chimichurri, some of his latest inventions. That without forgetting the sea lettuce brioches, its exquisite tomato and basil burgers or the floats that have revolutionized the people of Chiclana: Every day they prepare a different one, either with tuna with onions or with garlic prawns, but they always manage to surprise the staff.
At this point, there is no doubt: originality is the strong point of La Cremita. The one that allows you to compete against the big market and the big industries where quantity has always been above quality.
And if anyone has any doubts that this is culinary art with a Cádiz flavor, let them go down to the south to take a bite of their creations. He will then discover what real bread tastes like.