After my first work experience in an artisan bakery in São João da Madeira in Portugal, I was motivated to explore more. I had the time since I was on sabbatical leave, so I just needed a good bakery! Luckily, Antonio from Azeda recommended some good addresses. I did not have to knock on too many doors. Sofia, the owner of Boroa artisan bakery was telling me, that they would be happy to host me for a few days!
By the end of September 2022, after some weeks of traveling in Andalusia and Portugal again, I reached Entroncamento. This time on a “real” train, since the city in the Ribatejo region is one of the biggest railway centers of Portugal. After going to bed early, I showed up at 5 a.m. in the bakery, met Ricardo, the owner and chief baker of Boroa, and started right away with him baking the loaves, which had been proofing overnight in the fridge.
And there was this feeling like I was back with old friends; we connected immediately and could not stop talking, exchanging ideas and experiences. Ricardo and Sofia opened Boroa a few years ago, after both having had a career in architecture, so not much to do with bread.
Even though Ricardo had never worked professionally in baking before, he was raised in a baker’s family in Madeira. At some point, they felt that working abroad and in offices was not an option anymore and they had the idea of a sourdough artisan bakery, which 6 years back in a relatively small city was not a guaranteed success.
Being architects certainly helped them to efficiently use the small place, located in the building of the municipal market, and to put quality processes in place. With joint work, lots of passion and with the help of their team, they now have a following in Entroncamento and the surrounding area with retail customers, as well as with restaurant owners. If you taste their products you will be able to tell why!
In comparison to Azeda, Ricardo and his team are baking not only delicious sourdough bread with seeds, olives, oats, rye, and baguette. They also bake a lot of Portuguese specialties, such as cornbread (broa de milho), the bread of Gods (pão de Deus), sausage bread (pão com chouriço), and the bread specialty from Madeira: bolo do caco (with sweet potato). Innovations are a part of the business. So maybe if you visit the bakery today, you might be amazed by new tasty stuff.
Better than the bread at Boroa, is just the team! I enjoyed every minute working with such beautiful souls, like Ana, Miguel, Sara and of course Sofia and Ricardo! I learned a lot from those guys and hope to have the chance to work with them one day again!
Entroncamento is very well connected to Lisbon, and is worth a visit! Not just to take a full bag of fresh bread with you, but for the impressive National Railway Museum – station, museum, and bakery in just 10 minutes’ walking distance.
And one more special recommendation if you enter the bakery: ask for grandma’s coffee (café da avô).
