The Lost Art of Goan Bread Making
And those making it their mission to revive it
Hello!
Welcome to the first edition of Yesterday’s Curry, a newsletter exploring various aspects of Goan cooking. Thank you so much for subscribing and coming on this journey with me!
At the start of the lockdown, in March 2020, I began my quest to learn as much about Goan food as I could. With the vast stretch of time ahead, I used the next 12 months to read about and recipe test the cuisine of my heritage. It seemed only fitting to start this ode to Goa with a tribute to Goan bread, after a year which for many will have included bread making as a newfound skill, lockdown therapy, and way to pass the time while confined at home. The satisfying ritual of turning flour, water and yeast into a loaf you can hold in your hands is not new, but rather has been renewed in these uncertain times, and I’m here to share what I have learned about the bread making tradition which exists in the Western Indian state of Goa.
If you are not a Goan living in or brought up in Goa, you would be forgiven for never having heard of Goan bread. The popular coastal region, famous for its seafood curries, is not known for its bread, but to those who grew up hearing the familiar honk of the poder’s (baker’s) horn at daybreak, it is an intrinsic part of Goan life. When I decided to write about Goan bread, I was struck to discover the nostalgia attached to it, and the growing desire to preserve the bread making tradition associated with the simpler susegad “tranquil” life which is dwindling in modern times. The poder trade is not a sought after profession amongst the newer generation. Therefore the difficulty to employ new labour has meant that a huge amount of Goan bakeries have closed in recent years, and of course as a result, the availability of Goan bread is noticeably decreasing.
Bread making was brought to Goa by the Jesuit Portuguese in the 16th century and taught first and foremost to the Chardo caste in the village of Majorda in South Goa. Toddy (or sur), the natural alcoholic sap of the palm tree was historically used as the leavening agent, before yeast was available, and provided the bread with its unique taste that made it inherently Goan. Those in Majorda became expert bakers and took their bread with them when they migrated far and wide. For generations, local poders all over Goa have delivered baskets of freshly baked bread on their bicycles, waking up villages with its familiar scent. While this is still commonplace in certain areas, the decline has not gone unnoticed and I spoke to two inspirational Goan women who are taking it upon themselves to preserve the bread making tradition using their own entrepreneurial initiative.
In the town of Ribandar, situated between Panjim and Old Goa, resides the 100 year old “Old Bakery” owned by Shaeen Gomes, her parents, brother and grandmother who ran the bakery alone for 40 years following the untimely death of her husband 8 years into their marriage. The bakery was started by Gomes’ great grandfather who, like all the original poders, learnt his craft in Majorda and then travelled to Ribandar to set up his business. His two sons, Gomes’ grandfather and grand uncle took over the trade, and it has remained in the family ever since. The establishment is managed in cycles with family members working 4 month rotations to avoid the inevitable health issues that come from working day in and day out in front of a furnace. Large batches of dough are handmade every day and constructed into their individual breads; pão, pokshe(aka undo), kankon, katre pão and poie. Each is shaped differently and then placed in the hole in the wall wood fire oven in a special order to achieve the desired texture and crust. Shaeen tells me that paradoxically “the higher the heat, the softer the bread” so the poie (similar to the western pitta bread) goes in first for a short time in order to get the quick blast of heat it requires to puff up but remain soft and fluffy. Followed by this is the soft pão, then the butterfly shaped katre pão and the bangle shaped kankon(which are baked twice for extra firmness), and the small round crusty pokshe roll goes in last.
It is currently incumbent upon Shaeen’s father to bake the bread, while her mother and brother assist and her grandmother, despite her old age, occasionally contributes to the baking process. Shaeen tells me about the difficulty to employ labour in the bakery, due to the negative connotations of the poder trade amongst the newer generation. “I remember whenever people would want to call someone useless” recounts Gomes, “they would say 'eh, thu poder mare' (eh, you're a poder)”. It is clear when talking to Shaeen that she is passionate not only about her family business but also changing the way people perceive the Goan bread making tradition. Encouraged by her husband Armando to put her stamp on the century old family business, Shaeen is at the forefront of a movement to shift the perspective on the Goan poder trade. In collaboration with the organisation Folk Living, The Old Bakery now offers interactive bread making experiences, hosting up to 6 guests at a time due to the covid restrictions. Every Sunday eager participants congregate at the bakery, are taken through the process of making bread and given the chance to shape and bake their own creations in the 100 year old original wood fire. “We serve our guests some tea and some Goan accompaniments which go well with Goan bread” says Shaeen. “The response has been great so far.” Not stopping there, Shaeen and her family have coined the phrase #proudtobepoder, and are in the process of setting up a new traditional bakery in the heart of Panjim City. “The only way to inspire others is to go back to our roots, and that is what will bring us Goans pride” says Shaeen, and it is clear that she is on a mission to do just that.
8 miles south west of Ribandar in the beachside village of Dona Paula, is another woman pioneering a poder revolution, but this time from her own kitchen. Alison Jane Lobo, or Ally, as her loyal legion of followers know her, is a self taught baker whose fascination with the science of bread making has led her on a journey to become an incredibly accomplished bread teacher. “It all started with my father”, Ally tells me. She observed intently as he started experimenting with making bread at home, and the magic of watching the dough rise piqued her interest in the subject. Like Shaeen Gomes, Ally was struck with an urge to keep the tradition of Goan bread making alive, and it was, serendipitously when her village poder stopped delivering bread and the local bakery closed, that Ally decided to start making bread herself.
Determined to master the precise workings of the yeast and its ability to bring life to flour and water, Ally, with no professional culinary education, set out on a personal expedition of trial and error. “Yeast is the genesis of bread, the mystery fungus which has fascinated minds for centuries” she says, and she didn’t give up until she had mastered it, and was able to produce loaf after loaf of perfectly golden bread. With the basics conquered, Ally expanded her knowledge into all the various Goan breads; the famous 5 being pão, undo/pokshe, katre pão, kankon, and poie. It wasn’t long before she was hosting workshops in her home, passing on her knowledge to locals eager to learn to make bread for themselves.
Three years later, she has now taught 2000 students, and all still from her home in Dona Paula which is now known as the “house of the rising buns”. From “housewives, hoteliers and pastry outlet owners to fashion designers and even children” recalls Lobo, she has been contacted by people from Goa, Bombay, Delhi, Canada, Dubai, UK and Portugal, all keen to learn her bread making skills. “Once the course started, the enthusiasm was amazing and the dough surprisingly bonded the students together sharing the experience and dream of making bread,” says Ally. It is clear to see that her classes have been a resounding hit, and with the restrictions imposed on her by the pandemic, she now teaches her 5 hour masterclass online. Despite the initial setback, this has allowed her to reach a worldwide audience and discover that the desire to learn about Goan breads is shared by Goans around the world. I had the pleasure of attending one of Ally’s classes in February and her enthusiasm and passion for the subject is immediately apparent. She thoroughly takes students through the science of yeast and toddy, explaining that bread made with toddy takes more than double the time to rise. She then demonstrates the shaping of each bread, bakes them all, and finally sets up a whatsapp group chat for each class to consult her on troubleshooting issues once the class is over and to share creations with each other. “I think I achieved my wish to keep the tradition of Goan bread alive” Ally tells me proudly, while also mentioning that many of her students have now gone on to start their own bread businesses. “Viva Goencho Pão” is the motto Ally champions, and her efforts are certainly being recognised by Goans far and wide.
While talking to both of these highly inspirational women, and conducting several weeks of my own research, I have learned a great deal about Goan breads and their unique shapes, baking methods, and preparations. Below is a little summary of the 5 main types of Goan bread, and I enclose a link to my own e-book of Goan bread recipes, which contain illustrated step by step guides of how to make each bread. For those of you who follow my e-book recipes, I hope the video below will help you in your shaping, and remember it is all about practice!
Pão - Classic dinner rolls which are soft on the outside and inside. Perfect accompaniment to any thick curry, especially ros omelette or pav bhaji. They can also be filled with Goan sausage to make “choris pão”.
Undo - Known by many as pokshe, undo means bread in Konkani. It has a slit on the top, and is extremely crunchy on the outside and soft inside. Best eaten with xacuti, choris or vindalho.
Katre Pão - Traditional to Ribandar, Old Goa and some areas of South Goa. Also known as butterfly bread because of its shape, it is called katre pão because scissors are used to shape them. Kator is the konkani word for scissors and also means cut.
Kankon - Named kankon due to its shape, which means bangle in Konkani. Due to its brittle texture, this is best eaten dunked in a cup of tea and is perfect for teething babies.
Poie - Soft on the outside and hollow on the inside; it uses wholewheat flour as well as all purpose and wheat bran is dusted over when shaping. Best eaten stuffed with beef cutlet or Goan choris.
BUY MY ILLUSTRATED E-BOOK OF GOAN BREAD RECIPES HERE:
I hope many of you will give Goan bread making a go. It has been incredibly satisfying to add these historic and unique breads to my baking repertoire and I want to say a big thank you to Shaeen Gomes and Alison Jane Lobo for talking to me in such depth about their businesses. I hope to see you all next month, when I will be bringing you a piece (and e-book) about Goan pickles!
Such a great initiative to keep tradition alive. Would love to do the online course run by Alison.
This is amazingly written , I love everything about Goa :)