• The world's most expensive bread contains edible gold and silver and was baked in the ovens of a Spanish bakery.
Spain seems to be at the top when it comes to expensive food. Not only is it home to the world's most expensive ham, Jamón Ibérico, but the Iberian nation also boasts the title of home to the world's most expensive bread.
But how expensive is this bread? In March 2021, an article appeared on the news portal Madrid Metropolitan reports that a medium-sized loaf of this assortment sold for almost 2.000 US dollars! What could make someone pay so much for a single loaf of bread? Most likely to be able to say that he did…
This luxury sourdough bread with mayo, which has fascinated wealthy customers from the Middle East, Russia and China, is on sale for €1.480 at the bakery pineapple bread, from the village of Algatocin, located in the Spanish province of Malaga, Andalusia region, in southern Spain.
Years of experiments
The creator of this exotic bread with gold and silver is Juan Manuel Moreno, the manager of the Spanish bakery founded by his wife's grandparents in the 1940s and taken over by him when the business was about to close.
Moreno explained in an exclusive interview for Metropolitan Press that he got the idea to create the luxury bread when he found out that the most expensive coffee in the world was sold at a shop in the neighboring village of Marbella. The bread quickly became a hit with wealthy Costa del Sol tourists, perhaps due to its star ingredient: gold.
Far from being a snob, Moreno used his business acumen to create a desirable bread that would appeal to the wealthiest of us vacationing on the Spanish coast. Considering that Pan Piña Bakery is still in business, it's safe to say that the strategy worked. So, after years of experimenting with using gold as an ingredient, he launched this bread that costs 1.480 euros.
The story of this bread started in 2016 when Juan Manuel Moreno created his first bread made with edible gold and spelled wheat. Spelled wheat, widely used in Europe during the Bronze Age and medieval times, has re-entered the attention of foodies as a healthier alternative to regular wheat. The bread was put on sale at the price of 117 euros and 150 loaves were sold that year.
Luxury artisan bread
Moreno explained: “We used edible gold, which is healthy and beneficial when used in the right proportions. In fact, gold is said to have been consumed since ancient Chinese dynasties, and is now used in Chinese medicine, as is silver, which is also considered healthy."
A year later, the bakery launches another type of bread, also using gold as an ingredient, but this time used on the outside, to give "bread a 3D look". This bread had quinoa and chia as its main ingredients. The bakery then launched a bread priced at 192 euros, but this time it also added silver to the recipe.
After years of experimentation, Moreno creates the world's most expensive bread, again using gold and silver, but this time in three different formats: dust, flakes and lamina to give the final product a 3D look. It also uses natural flowers and designs made of malt for decoration.
According to Moreno, each bread, which weighs only 400 grams, has ingredients worth 900-1.100 euros. All breads are made 100% by hand, using very good quality flours, and the cost may vary slightly depending on the price of gold in the market, although he added that the price for his customers will be "always the same".
Unexpected success
Moreno explained that the investment is worth it, but added that "I didn't do it with the intention of turning it into a business, but in the end it became a business. Instead, we did it to draw attention to the bakery so we can talk about traditional bread, which is much better than industrial bread, which is cheaper but much less healthy."
The process of obtaining the luxury bread takes about 18 hours, the very motto of the bakery being "Bread without haste." The baker said he sold 96 loaves of this bread in 2020, which he says is a high number given the lockdowns caused by the coronavirus crisis.
Among his customers is a Middle Eastern prince who ordered 18 loaves of bread for his wedding, and the only requirement is that the bread be ordered in advance, allowing between 20 hours and 2 days to be prepared, as the process is too long for to be ready for customers in a short time.
The bakery also has a special vault where the precious ingredients are kept. The baker says he needed this safe to ensure he doesn't run out of ingredients should demand for this variety of bread increase.
The bakery also has a daily routine offering bread "no rush" regular customers. Moreno says more than 170 different types of bread are sold every day, with the real star of the bakery actually being the buckwheat and quinoa bread, which sells for €4,2 a piece.
Photo source: www.madridmetropolitan.com
Article written by Gabriela Dan, Editor of Arta Albă
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