My Experience With Bread In Spain and In Asturias

Before I moved to Spain, I was already baking close to 80% of all the bread my family ate. I did this mostly because good bread in the States is very expensive. And cheap bread is not very good in most places. Certainly not in the States. Upon moving to Spain (I lived in Castilla y León for a time before making the move to Asturias), I continued baking all of our bread, because I found bread buying in Spain to be a very similar situation to the American one. Plenty of cheap but not great bread available, and a real hunt to find something I’d want, only to find it too expensive, or ultimately disappointing.

I certainly expected that to be the same in Asturias. So much so that I didn’t make any real effort to check out the bakeries after moving. It was only once I happened across a truly enormous loaf (hogaza) at an outdoor market that I began to pay attention to Asturian bread. It turns out that was a happy coincidence.

Bread In Spain Generally

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The volume of bread consumed per person in selected Eurpean countries for the year 2013. Note that only the UK eats less bread than in Spain, regardless of the Spanish being convinced that not only is their bread the best and most interesting in the world, but that they are uniquely addicted to bread. Buying bread daily is a cherished part of the day in Spain. Whether it is walking to the panadería or going out to meet the bakery van when s/he stops in your village, the rhythm of bread buying is a ritualistic daily affirmation of one’s Españolismo. However, the bread itself is very much secondary to the ritual. People do not generally eat bread by itself. They treat it more as a utensil. Its primary purpose is for moving foods around. It is a necessary, but disposable, part of daily life.

This is borne out by statistics. Spain eats the second-least bread in all of Europe; only the UK eats less bread per person. Bread consumption in the States is roughly 75% of that of Spain, so Americans find the bread consumption here normal. Certainly not a culture shock like in bread-mad Germany and France. Like most things that fill a quotidian role, economy is the first consideration. The standard breads eaten in Spain are produced very cheaply and without a lot of care.

But the single most important factor in the lack of quality in Spanish bread is simply that the hydration of the dough is very low. Spanish bread, regardless of the style or shape, tends to be as hard as a rock or (and sometimes both!) as crumbly as old plaster seemingly within minutes of purchase. Certainly by the next morning it is inedible. This creates quite a nice daily turnover for bakers, but doesn’t produce very good bread at all. No one notices much, or cares. After all, the daily bread run is what makes this Spain. This basic defect of improperly baked bread: cracked, crumbly bread that dries out too fast – becomes a selling point here.

Water Is the Staff of Life and of Bread

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Barra de pan - the most common bread in Spain Almost all bread in the world contains only the same four ingredients – water, flour, yeast, and salt. The main factor in the longevity of a bread is its hydration percentage – the amount of water in the dough, relative to the amount of flour. The secondary factor is the ratio of surface area (crust) to inside (crumb). I’ve baked bread personally and professionally for more than a decade, and I can state categorically that bread that goes stale within a day is simply bread that has a very low hydration percentage. French baguettes are world famous for becoming stale quickly. And everyone understands that this is a result of two things; low hydration and massive surface area. Baguettes in France are usually baked at a hydration level of around 55%. This is very low by bread making standards. Most artisan loaves, especially large hogazas or boules are 80% or more hydration. I regularly make a loaf of bread for sandwiches at my house that is in excess of 90% hydration.

As bread ages after baking, hydration in the loaf moves to the crust, where it evaporates into the air. If the crust is large, relative to the rest of the bread, the crumb, then it will go stale faster than a similar sized loaf with a smaller surface area. When that crumb contains very little moisture to begin with, it takes very little time for a massive surface area to transpire all of the moisture in the bread, leaving it crumbly and inedible. The solution is obvious: make bread with a higher hydration percentage. However, doing that is much more challenging. It cannot easily be left unattended to rise for 20 hours. It becomes harder to shape quickly by machine.

Bread in Asturias

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An assortment of breads for sale in a street market in Pola de Lena, Asturias Fortunately, the scenario is a bit better in the northwest of the peninsula. Both Asturias and Galicia have a much more robust sense of what bread can (and should) be. At the very least there I can find bread that has a proper hydration percentage. While the village bakery van still delivers baseball bat hard barras de pan, it is very easy to buy good bread. Some of it is very good indeed. I have not yet visited a weekly market in Asturias that doesn’t have high hydration artisan loaves for sale. Most town and city bakeries proudly market their soft, fluffy, edible wares with only a few desultory barras in the back for the stubborn.

In addition, there is real variety in the breads available in Asturias. Whole wheat, rye, spelt, corn. All these grains are a normal part of bread making. The dull monotony of the bleached white stick of powdered tastelessness is broken in the northwest. Flavor can again be found. Bread is eaten by itself. I still make most all of our bread because I am good at it, I enjoy it, and as you have seen, I am a little picky about it. But I know if I am out and about and need bread, I can find good bread. If a day comes where too many things come up and I don’t have time to bake a loaf, I can usually find one that is flavorful, and wholesome, and most importantly, hydrated properly.

I can recommend that every visitor to Asturias sample as many of these different breads as their time and stomach allows. I am certain that you will be suitably impressed. You may find that Asturias by itself rehabilitates your opinion of bread in Spain. It certainly did for me.