Flavors

In the account recorded in Recovos, Pedraça, in March 2011, Maria da Conceição described several signs: the dough rested and increased in volume; a whitish appearance inside the oven indicated enough heat for the batch. She then shaped the dough in a basin, giving it a rounded form. The account shows knowledge built from movements and observation, learned in a kitchen and recorded by the Museum. It does not establish a universal rule for all ovens or doughs.

There is a sequence to those signs. First, resting allows the change in the dough to be observed; then the oven is prepared and the loaves shaped. The record brings together attention to time, volume and the colour inside the oven. Knowing how to bake meant connecting these observations as well as knowing the ingredients.

In Pedraça, Maria da Conceição Mouta recalled a bolo made from the broa dough itself. It was topped with small sardines or chouriço and went into the oven before the loaves. More wood then had to be added.

The account recorded in 2011 and published by the Museum in 2015 connects the bolo’s name with the organisation of baking day. The recipe preserves the techniques of a traditional oven, to explore alongside the history of bread.

In the recipe recorded by the Museu das Terras de Basto in March 2011, Maria da Conceição Gonçalves Mouta, who lived in Recovos, Pedraça, combined light rye, dark rye and wheat. The account distinguishes the maize broa she learned from her grandmother from the mixed-grain broa she began making later. Tradition changes even within one kitchen. In the same account, she says she no longer baked weekly: she made bread for celebrations and when she missed homemade broa. She also prepared it for Santa Marinha and for Christmas and maize-husking events at the Associação D. Nuno Álvares in Pedraça. Bread connected the kitchen with community gatherings.

The rhythm of baking also changed the leavening. When bread was baked frequently, dough was kept from the previous batch; in the preparation described in 2011, she used baker’s yeast prepared the day before. The change in ingredients accompanied a change in the calendar, from weekly bread to bread for gatherings.