Menumental

Print

E-mail

Text

Anyone on a low-carb diet would have trouble living in the Dovercourt Wallace-Emerson neighbourhood. You can't walk two blocks around these parts without coming across a Portuguese bakery, its crusty loaves and golden tarts practically winking at you from the window.

As a frequent patron of said establishments, here's a guide to their tempting wares:

 

BREADS

Portuguese corn bread (broa or pao de milho) is nothing like the yellow stuff south of the Mason-Dixon line. Made with white corn flour, the yeast-raised dough is baked in a hot, moist oven, which is responsible for the thick, crunchy crust. It's too dense for sandwiches, but spread with butter and sprinkled with sea salt, it's a divine pre-dinner snack.

For sammies, the bun of choice is papo-secos. Shaped like a canoe with a deep cleft down the middle, this roll is crusty and light as a feather, allowing the filling to take centre stage. Just watch out for the explosion of crumbs.

Like a Portuguese spin on brioche, massa sovada (or pao seco) is a sweet bread enriched with eggs and butter. It comes in many guises: plain or with candied peel and shaped into buns, boules, loaves or giant braids. It makes incredible French toast, grilled cheese and bread pudding.

 

SWEETS

The custard tart (pasteis de nata) is the one Portuguese pastry that most Torontonians know and love. Impossible to eat just one, these legendary tarts are simply a cup of flaky pastry filled with thick, sweet custard. Baked in a blistering oven, they're a delightful contrast of gooey and crisp.

Portuguese bakers also know how to fry a mean doughnut. Malasadas are an Azorean specialty eaten before Lent and at Mardi Gras and Christmas. These no-hole, yeast-raised fritters are chewy, lemony and crunchy with cinnamon sugar.

 

FRIED SAVOURIES

There are some delicious savoury snacks to be had at Portuguese bakeries, most notably salt cod fritters (bolinhos de bacalhau) and shrimp turnovers (rissois de camarao). The former is a crisp quenelle of salt cod and potato flavoured with parsley and white pepper. Sadly, I have given up these heavenly croquettes due to cod's endangered status.

Shrimp turnovers are D-shaped packets of fried pastry stuffed with tiny shrimp and creamy b�©chamel. They are best taken home and reheated in the toaster oven at 300F for 10 minutes. Be warned: let them cool, as the molten filling can strip paint off a Cadillac.

 

WHERE TO FIND THEM

While I never met a Portuguese bakery I didn't like, here are my current favourites: Progress Bakery (996 Dovercourt Rd., 533-6461) for cornbread and crusty rolls; Alcoa Bakery (1147 Davenport Rd., 416-656-5552) for baguettes, sweet bread and shrimp turnovers; National Bakery (812 College St., 536-9981) for malasadas; and for killer custard tarts, Nova Era (www.novaera.ca).