The business graduate who wanted to knead bread in the family bakery and has won a contest for two Saint John's cakes

GranollersThey say that babies always arrive in the world with a loaf of bread under their arm, and in the case of little Júlia Martorell Calatayud, it will be with two winning cakes: the cream one and the lardons one, created by her father at the El Sagà bakery in Granollers. These are two of the specialties that won the competition for the best Sant Joan cake, organized by the Guild of Bakers of the Barcelona regions and created by the agency Sr y Sra Cake. The baker Andreu Martorell (Lliçà de Vall, 1988), Júlia's father and also father of Jan (5 years old) and Pol (3 years old), was the first to be surprised to achieve first place in both categories, and even more so in a year when the organizers of the event stated that there had been more participation than ever: 20% more than in previous editions. So, in total, with each category (traditional, cream, lardons, chocolate, and creative), the jury had to taste three hundred.

Since he won, Andreu assures that the orders for coques for Sant Joan have increased. “We have opened a WhatsApp channel with a person dedicated to taking orders. We also accept them via Instagram. In the same shop they also make them for us,” he says. It's non-stop, even though of all the food-related festivals, Sant Joan is probably the most organized: the coques are sold on June 23rd itself, the eve, and it doesn't last any longer.

'Sagà' comes from harvesting wheat

I ask him about the name of the bakery, El Sagà, and Andreu replies that it's a simple idea he came up with for the bakery he opened in Granollers, when he decided to leave the town of Lliçà de Vall, where his brothers, Joan and Josep, are, at the family bakery. “The word Sagà occurred to me from the expression segar el blat, and from there the name,” he explains. At the family bakery, which was named Joan Martorell Roure, his father's name, Andreu learned to make some preparations: as a child he already made croissants. As an adult, he studied business and ADE, and when he finished his studies, without realizing it, he found himself kneading bread. “My two university degrees have always served me, because I take care of the numbers, which are basic for running a business, but I saw that I had more work in the bakery than with the numbers,” comments Andreu, adding that there was a phrase that finally convinced him: “If you don’t do it, no one will.” So he started working as a baker in Granollers while his two older brothers stayed at the family bakery. "To put some distance and be able to do my own thing, I went to Granollers. Then I changed the name of the bakery," he states.

And now we taste the Sant Joan cakes. The cream one, as it should be, is brioche. A dough enriched with butter, extra virgin olive oil, eggs, milk, honey, orange peel, and lemon peel. The cream on top, he prepares it just as his family has always made it; the local pine nuts, specifically from the producer Agustí Nogueras, from the town of Vilalba Sasserra. "I let the dough rest for two days, and in the ingredients when I say eggs I put more yolks than whites, because I believe that yolks add more creaminess to the brioche dough," says Andreu, who adds that honey is the trick to keep the cake fresh longer. "So that the day after buying it it's still tender, honey helps. Baker's cakes are artisan preparations, which do not contain any preservatives," he says.

The second winning cake was the lardons cake, which is prepared just like for Fat Thursday. "We make the puff pastry ourselves, and we put the lardons on top," he explains. However, the touch of El Sagà bakery is that the puff pastry must have many layers; when we bite into it, it feels like it breaks, and the lardons on top become caramelized and have just the right balance. "The lardon is the protagonist, but the puff pastry must also be." Both cost twenty-seven euros per kilo.

Winning the competition in double category has meant, for El Sagà bakery, receiving more orders. "First we were very surprised, and then proud of our work and especially of the whole team that surrounds us, of the family, of the brothers. The merit belongs to all of us," points out Andreu, who confesses that of all the cakes he makes, his favorite is the one filled with cream. "I didn't present this one to the competition, but if I have to choose one, I'll go with the cream-filled one," he states. This is precisely the one that should be put in the refrigerator before and after eating it. On the other hand, the one with cream on top, the winner, does not need refrigeration, because in this case the cream is baked in the oven.