Azoia Bread

“People baked bread once a week, but then the women also started to work”, says Maria Virgínia Graça, 75, referring to the early 1980s. “Juliana started making bread for the people who went to work. I lived next to her and wanted to learn how to bake bread. I started making it at my parents' house, in my mother's bread oven”, who handed her the booklet on this trade. 

“There was the oven and the cellar, with the wine. I remember a Spanish lady who used to live here. She sat waiting for bread. I made her a toast from the half-baked bread, with the oil and salt to put on it, and the wine.”

From the old days, Maria Virgínia Graça tells that, after two or three years, she asked her husband to build a house and a wood oven. “I baked bread alone for 20 years.” After these two decades, her daughter, Anabela Texeira, started working hard. Later, it was the turn of her son-in-law, Nelson Texeira, to accompany both in this task. "Now they are the ones who take care of the bakery and distribute it." Quinta do Anjo, Fernão Ferro, Sesimbra, Zambujal are some of the destinations for Pão da Azóia from the Bakery Anabela Teixeira, where it is also sold.

The sourdough starter is made every day, at 19h00, by Maria Virgínia Graça. “I make a pot of yeast, which grows for about four, five or six hours, depending on the time.” Around 01h00, Anabela Teixeira kneads the dough and adds the yeast. Then, the oven “with the wood of various qualities” is also lit. While heating, “the bread rests on the tray covered by some cloths”. As soon as the thermometer reads 300°C, the dough will bake.

The bread from Azóia is made according to the recipe of Maria Virgínia Graça's mother, a legacy preserved by the hands of Anabela Teixeira. “I learned and I do as my mother used to do and my daughter does as I do, with the same amounts of yeast and salt. It takes hot water because, with cold water, the dough takes a long time to grow.”

Altogether, around 300 loaves are made per week. On Saturday and Sunday, the quantity exceeds 800 units. Every day there are water loaves, seed bread and chorizo ​​bread, while rye loaves are baked on Tuesdays and Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Nut and raisin bread are available on Saturday and on Sunday there is cornbread.