During my visit to Azeda, I was still looking for possibilities to visit other sourdough bakeries in Portugal in the last month of my sabbatical. Antonio recommended me without hesitation Boroa, where I spent some days in September 2022, and Pão com Manteiga in the Algarve.
The first meeting
Because of my busy but in the same time lucky schedule, a longer visit was not possible but I figured out, that I would be at the same time in the Algarve when Luiz was offering a workshop. So I decided to use this opportunity to get to know each other!
The bakery is situated near Loulé, an authentic Portuguese market town, worth visiting too. It is easy to reach from Faro, the capital of the Algarve so I jumped on the train, and in 20 minutes there I was.
Luiz was so kind to pick me up at the train station and have a coffee before the workshop started. His baker colleagues call him “the Boss” of sourdough since he managed to deliver the whole Algarve region with his delicious bread. But he doesn’t like this nickname. And I believe him. He is just a baker, anchored in his family and community, just a guy next door, nothing “bossy” in his character. This was confirmed later during the workshop and my visit the following year to the bakery.
Originally from Brazil, Luiz has worked for several years in a Michelin-starred restaurant. In his free time, he focused on his ideas and passion, sourdough bread being one of them.
He started baking and selling his bread to neighbors and soon had the idea to launch his own business with the mission of bringing naturally fermented healthy bread to the table of people. Two years later he launched his brand “Pão com Manteiga” meaning “bread with butter” in Portuguese.
I had a wonderful afternoon at the workshop in his little “factory” with the other participants, mainly his clients or like-minded people passionate about bread. The 83-year-old Dona Noemia, who joined the daughter in the workshop, was a true role model for us all! Despite her age, she was very interested in learning new skills, and we could also profit from her life experience! It was so touching when she shared that kneading the bread and the sourdough smell remembered her mother making bread in her childhood…
Working side by side with the team
The next year when I was visiting my friends in Faro again, asked Luiz if I could join him for two days in the bakery and he accepted without hesitation! So I took in the morning the train again to Loulé and jumped in the middle of the production.
Besides making the dough, forming and baking the different kinds of tasty bread, with oats, mixed seeds, flaxseed and fleur de sel, rye, traditional wheat, alfarroba (carob), and brioche together with Antonio and João, I also had the chance to experience the bread delivery with Dom Manuel. That is because Luiz doesn’t sell his bread in the bakery but delivers to restaurants, stores, and markets in the Algarve and beyond. It was a pleasure meeting some of his clients and chatting with Dom Manuel about how he enjoys this work in his retirement and about the meaning of life in general.
One day after the shift in the bakery was done (from 4 a.m. until around 1 p.m.!), Luiz even took me to pick up fleur de sel from Castro Marim, at the border to Spain, from a local producer of salt in a traditional way. On our way back he was talking about how fulfilled he is living his dream, having enough resources for a decent life, spending time with family, and enjoying free time.
However, this is not given automatically. The key to success is in his opinion concentrated work, passion, and a lot of planning!
So if you are spending your holidays in the Algarve and don’t want to give up eating good bread, look for the selling points of Pão com Manteiga, and you can enjoy the fruits of the work of Luiz and the team!
