For 20 years, Margarita Paradela has run Panadería Vilaboa in Culleredo, working nights and early mornings to bake bread that stands apart in the A Coruña region. Her routine starts at 11:30 p.m. and can stretch to 15 hours a day.
Behind the storefront on Rúa da Calzada, the bakery’s heart is a stone wood-fired oven, one of the last of its kind in the area. Each loaf rests for five to six hours before baking. A single dough mixer is the bakery’s basic piece of equipment; most of the remaining work is done by hand, and bread is sold by weight. The long rest and manual handling give production a rhythm distinct from faster, more automated baking.
Old Methods, Lasting Results
The wood-fired oven is basic to the bakery’s character. Its bread is known for a crisp crust and moist crumb, with a distinctive flavor that regular customers associate with the traditional method. Across Spain, wood-fired ovens remain part of the country’s artisanal baking heritage, though results at each bakery also depend on its dough, flour and technique.
Paradela’s workday can last up to 15 hours, and she has taken no holidays for the past 20 years. Between 100 and 200 people visit the bakery on a typical morning, and many regulars buy extra loaves to freeze. The counter also draws customers for other baked goods, including roscas and bollas.
Handmade Empanadas and a Life Shaped by Bread
Panadería Vilaboa is also known for its handmade empanadas, sold in the shop. The work includes rolling the dough and preparing the fillings. Options include bonito or cod, as well as cockles; roasted pork with peppers is another variety.
Paradela’s path to baking was unexpected. Originally an office worker, she knew bread mainly as food until she met and fell in love with a baker. She learned the trade over time, first supplying bread to restaurants and then, two decades ago, taking over the family bakery. Now 55, she is beginning to consider who might continue the tradition, aware of the physical demands and responsibility the work entails.
Tradition and Community
For many in Culleredo, Panadería Vilaboa is more than a bakery; it is “the oven,” a name that evokes earlier generations. Some of its bread goes to A Coruña, while much of it stays close to home. Years of regular production and familiar products have made the bakery part of the community’s daily life.
Traditional food businesses face broader challenges, including the search for successors. La Voz de Galicia has reported that many bakeries and pastry shops struggle with generational handovers, even as demand for healthier, nutritionally oriented food grows. That tension between preserving established craft and adapting to changing expectations shapes the field for small bakeries.
Other Galician bakeries show how deep that tradition runs. A La Voz de Galicia report on a long-established bakery in Rodeiro described a multigenerational business whose bread reaches customers beyond its locality. It is a separate operation, but it reflects the place wood-fired baking and continuity still hold in the region’s food culture.
Paradela’s expertise shows in her attention to detail. The sound of a loaf’s crust can tell her as much as its aroma or texture. When dining out, she instinctively inspects the bread for signs of quality and authenticity. To her, bread has a language of its own, beyond its role as food.
Panadería Vilaboa’s daily routine, with night work, long rests for the dough and hands-on production, keeps an old style of baking alive in Culleredo. Its future depends on the work behind the oven and on whether another generation is willing to take up the craft.
