Flores Family: three generations of bakers

A tribute to the four decades of work of the "Don Raúl" bakery; in the city of Puebla and the new generations that receive the knowledge from their elders since they are children.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 2 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

Being a baker is one of the oldest trades in human history, as it relates to wheat, one of the base grains for human feeding.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 3 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

For more than four decades, the Flores family has carried out this job in the Don Raúl bakery, located in the city of Puebla.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 4 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

This exhibition is a recognition to all the workers who knead the ingredients and, with the help of the oven, make a wide variety of breads in this family business which, with love and dedication, care for future generations, because children play a key role.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 5 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

For centuries, the role of baker has been learned from childhood. Children help in the simplest tasks, then playfully get closer to the ingredients, familiarize themselves with them, their textures, their consistency and their temperatures. Little by little they are experimenting with being able to stir them to obtain the masa dough.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 6 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

No learning is as effective as through play: feeling the masa dough as if it were plasticine to shape into bread.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 8 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

The elders are lovingly guiding this path that never ends once it has begun. Contact with the masa dough and making the different types of bread becomes natural, as if it were part of a game.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 10 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

As a small alchemist, the child-baker will continue to learn over the years, from assistant to officer, to become a skillful master baker, who with his patient work continues to forge the prestige of Puebla's gastronomy. 

Tres generaciones de panaderos 7 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

Experimenting with the masa dough, Carlos Daniel learns to shape these small threads of kings, one of the most popular seasonal breads in all of Mexico.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 9 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

Third generation in the family business: Santiago, only two years old, learns to knead the masa dough playfully, while Carlos Daniel accompanies him in this test of skill.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 11 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

Making pastry, the bread par excellence for the feast of the dead. This is a pretext for a baker to learn the art of kneading from a young child.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 12 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

Bread with sesame and cheese is one of many that can be found in the Don Raúl bakery. It is made with oil and is filled with cheese to offer a different flavor.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 13 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

Playing at being a baker, Santiago also experiments in the creation of small pastries for the day of the dead season.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 14 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

Among the breads they learn to make is ombligo (belly button) or bísquet (biscuit), sweet and salty bread that has found a good welcome among consumers.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 15 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

Reja, a classic of the Puebla bakery, has been made for decades in the Don Raúl bakery, and the elders remember it as a favorite.

Tres generaciones de panaderos 16 by Ana Carolina Díaz RodríguezCocina Cinco Fuegos

First steps inside the bakery: Santiago shows us, proud, the first shell he made himself; he is ready to continue helping the elders in the family business.

Credits: Story

Curator: María de la Cruz Ríos Yanes
Pictures by: Ana Carolina Díaz Rodríguez
Bakery: Don Raúl
Special thanks to Don Raúl Flores, Raúl Flores son, Carlos Daniel and Santiago.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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