Forn Can Payeras

When the whole Payeras family decided to leave for the Americas to make their fortune, Joan’s great-grandfather decided to stay in Port de Pollença and open a bakery. So he commissioned a company from Barcelona to install a new generation oven and in 1930 he opened Can Payeras. Since then, four generations of bakers have passed through the family, up to the current owner, Joan Payeras. His father, José, started to use the oven a lot. He made oil biscuits and bread that he delivered on a donkey to the different restaurants in Pollença. They also distributed all their products to the hotels in Port de Pollença, especially to the Hotel Formentor, considered one of the most luxurious on the island.

Joan grew up as a child in the bakery and, although he studied, it was always clear to him that he wanted to be a baker, since, as he says, it is a profession that has always been in his blood. He loves making ensaimadas, which he considers an art form, and in the height of summer, during the high season, he can make more than three hundred a day. He explains the process of making an ensaimada with such passion and detail that you will want to eat one immediately. Specialising in making panadas, they also make quesadillas (formatjades), a unique product from Pollença that cannot be found in other towns on the island.

He believes that being a baker is an art that is becoming less popular day by day because there are few people who want to dedicate themselves to it, although nowadays there are many more facilities with new tools that help you to knead and make everything that is sold in the bakery by hand. Joan says that to be a baker you have to love this profession.