Wheats, mills and bakers: Physiognomy of a region

Atlixco, located 16 miles from the city of Puebla and 81 miles from Mexico City, was the first place where wheat was grown on the American continent. Its temperate climate, with an average annual temperature of 65°F, irrigated by several rivers and a season of abundant rains, led to the cultivation of new grains, plants and fruit trees imported from Spain that were basic in the peninsular diet.

Atlixco played an important and transcendental role in the fact that it was in that place precisely where new farming techniques and new agricultural products were introduced.

Wheat, sugar cane and the introduction of cattle brought about different use to the land and water of the New World, causing the Mexican landscape to be radically transformed.  This was the case with wheat, which was harvested between 1535 and 1536.

The guaranteed wheat supply, coupled with the large number of Spanish settlers settled in the old city of Los Angeles, led to as a consequence the installation of several wheat mills since the mid-16th century, taking advantage of the tributaries of the San Francisco, Atoyac and Alseseca rivers.

The considerable number of mills that worked in Puebla, not only during the viceroyalty, when the city supplied the Armada de Barlovento with sponge bread, but during the 19th century and until the end of the 20th century, it led to a baking activity that placed Angelópolis as a producer center par excellence at the national level.

Some of the most important mills were: San Francisco, Huexotitla, Santo Domingo, which was divided into two, first known as El Chico and El Grande, or La Rinconada or Enmedio, respectively, which were later known as San Pedro Mártir and San Vicente.

It should be noted that the Grande mill was transformed into the first textile factory La Constancia Mexicana. Other outstanding mills were San Antonio, Santa Bárbara, El Carmen, de Enmedio, Amatlán, Mayorazgo, del Puente, Agua Azul, La Teja and El Cristo.

Already in the 20th century, the following stood out: La Asunción, La Fe, San Blas, San Manuel and San Rafael. By 1932, there were 17 mills, which maintained a constant activity.

The proliferation of mills over several centuries has led to the establishment of a large number of bakeries of all sizes that has led to the creation of a taste for the consumption of bread for every occasion.

In the year of 1932, there were 33 bakeries, many of them with names alluding to saints or religious subjects, such as Santa Teresa, San Roque, San Juan de Dios, San Carlos, El Rosario or La Providencia; some others account for their reminiscence with the Spanish peninsula, such as the Port of Vigo or the Vasconia, and, in addition, there are some others with curious names like La Colorada, El Coco, La Imperial or La Espiga de Oro.

Despite the fact that the flour industry has gone into outright decline since the last decades of the 20th century, when several mills closed down, a vast production of bread continues until today.

Traditional bakeries or bakery industries supply a wide local and regional market, making salt bread, oil bread, sweet bread or seasonal bread as the occasion deserves.

Making bread is an activity that has remained uninterrupted for almost five centuries of life in the city of Puebla.