Bakery offers Mexican memories
Juana Hernandez stands in front of shelves of fresh bread at La Patrona Bakery in Homestead. Photo credit: Sabrina Catalan
HOMESTEAD–From 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., mother-daughter duo Elizabeth and Juana Hernandez knead dough to the symphony of beeping oven timers at La Patrona Bakery in Homestead.
Each day the two workers service customers and bake a variety of Mexican and Central American desserts, stacking metal trays with pastries such as “polvoróns,” a crumbly shortbread, “conchas,” breads shaped like shells, and “bigotes,” a pastry similar to croissants but sprinkled in fine sugar.
“I have business all day,” Elizabeth Hernandez said. “I never stop since the doors open in the morning. I bake all day long.”
A local favorite, the family-owned business at 110 W. Mowry Drive, opened in 2001 and is one of the few bakeries in the area serving fresh and authentic Mexican bread and desserts.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 65% of Homestead’s population is Hispanic. And many are on the search for foods that remind them of home.
“In Mexico, there’s a bakery around every corner, a lot like France, where they serve quality bread,” said owner Luis Echegaray. “We didn’t feel like there was anything like that in Homestead at the time and saw an opportunity to do something we like to do, make some money and have our own business.”
Echegaray, who has worked at La Patrona since he was 16 years old, was born in New York and lived in Mexico for two years before his Ecuadorian mother married a Mexican fellow and the family moved to Florida. His mother, a paralegal who had worked with immigrant families in New York, learned some baking tips from them and started the bakery with fewer than 10 recipes. She expanded the menu as she got more experience.
“We didn’t know how to make tres leches until 2006, and that ended up being a very good product, alongside the bread,” Echegaray said.
Affordable loaves
The United States does not have much of a bakery culture, Echegaray said, except for Starbucks and fancier bakeries that sell pricier loaves. He said he’s happy his bakery sells affordable bread at $1.50 to $2 a loaf.
“I think we are very down-to-Earth,” Echegaray said. “We sell our bread to the people who work the farms down here in Homestead, a very big farming community. We also sell to the construction workers.”
Maria Cueva, who has been going to the bakery for almost 10 years, buys bags of sweet bread to share with her family and friends.
“The bread is beautifully crafted and tastes delicious,” Cueva said. “I can never leave with just one.”
The bakery is busiest on the weekdays after people get off from work, but especially on the weekends. Echegaray said the amount they bake during the weekdays equates to how much they bake during the weekend.
Some of the bakery’s unsold items are used to make other treats such as banana bread pudding and “marranitos,” — Mexican gingerbread pigs.
The bakery items also change and become popular with the season. When it rains, Echegaray says people buy more bread, but in the summer, they sell more “horchatas,” which are sugary, cinnamon milk-based drinks.
“My favorite thing is that they have so much variety,” said Nora Guevara, who has been going to the bakery for a year. “My favorite breads are the sweet ones.”
‘Pan de Muerto’
One of the most popular bakery items, especially in the fall, is “Pan de Muerto,” bread of the dead. The sweet and buttery treat is left on family altars as offerings to remember loved ones and also enjoyed by the living during “Dia de los Muertos,” Day of the Dead, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2.
If you ask Elizabeth Hernandez the secret recipe to her “Pan de Muerto,” she’d say dedication. But there are also anise seeds, which are traditionally mixed into the dough to give it a licorice flavor.
Mexican people say the bread’s round shape symbolizes the cycle of life and death. On top, the crosses represent “huesitos,” or bones of the deceased. The liberal dusting of pink sugar symbolizes blood.
“I bake this bread because I want to help people in this community embrace our culture,” Elizabeth Hernandez said. “It’s our belief that if you put this bread out on the altar, our deceased loved ones will smell it and come visit us.”
‘Pan de Muerto,’ which in Spanish means bread of the dead, is adorned with crosses to represent ‘huesitos,’ or bones. Photo credit: Jovani Lomeli.
Bakery expansion
Echegaray, 38, still does the overnight shift from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. and dedicates himself to the success of his bakery. With help from the city of Homestead, Echegaray said his hard work is being noticed and rewarded. He was offered a $250,000 grant by the city in August to expand his business. Plans include moving to a bigger building a few yards away from the current location.
“Planning the construction is a little overwhelming,” Echegaray said. “We’re going from a 1,300 square foot place to a 5,000 square foot place.”
La Patrona Bakery customers select from a variety of baked goods. Photo credit: Sabrina Catalan
While getting support from the city is new, Echegaray is used to being on the giving end. The bakery donates its leftover bread to nearby homeless shelters and churches.
“I’m glad to help where I can,” Echegaray said.
