The journalist who has hung up his habit to become an artisan baker in a village of 500 inhabitants in Priorat

PorreraBorja Franco (Barcelona, ​​1988) completed his journalism degree in 2010, and since then, he'd been making documentaries on social issues, which was his specialty. He didn't do it all the time—everyone knows the profession is unregulated—and combined it with work for foundations dedicated to the integration of migrant minors. And he did all this while harboring the dream of one day going to live in Priorat, because he'd dreamed of doing so ever since he met Franco. He'd have a home, a job, and a family. Today, he explains with a smile, he's already achieved it.

She tells me this story on a Sunday afternoon, inside the L'Esclopet bakery, located on Miquel Martí and Pol de Porrera streets, when she has finished selling all the bread she had made. "Every weekend I make one hundred kilos of bread, which means sixty kilos of flour," explains Borja Franco. As a baker, he only has his hands: serving at the counter, his partner, Noemí Delgado, and as a die-hard fan, the little one of the house, Selva Franco, who has just made the best ship: with a loaf of bread under her arm. "Everyone tells us this, but it's certainly true because we've put everything into it at once: bread oven and creature," explains Borja, who radiates energy and joy at the same time. He decided to put his hands in the dough. It was two years ago when someone told him that he was retiring from the bakery. Then he thought it could be a way of life in Priorat, because he would start having a job there. When he saw that it could be an opportunity, he started doing it at home with books in hand. He also signed up for courses and, above all, completed training that was key: the time he spent working at Marc Martí's L'Obrador de Prades bakery, where Borja admits he learned well how to make bread from "payés, quarter-sized loaves, quality, and between Marc and I we did everything," says Borja, who adds that it was the baker Xavier Sistaré, from the Horno Sistaré in Reus, who recommended that he knock on the door of the Obrador de Prades. He located it on the ground floor of a house on Miquel Martí i Pol street, renovated it, and bought the machinery.

When he opened, he decided he was going to make all kinds of bread, but basically, bread. However, the surprise has been that Porrera has a real sweet tooth. "They love sweets, so I've had to swallow my theory that I'd never make croissants because now I make two kinds: the long butter croissant and the chocolate bar and the spread," he confesses. While he sells the chocolate ones for €2, the plain butter ones for €1.70. "I didn't want to make croissants because I associated them with France, and also because it's a sweet treat that requires a lot of work, a lot of preparation, and I'm alone in the bakery. And I wanted to make our own bread," Borja adds to explain why he didn't want to do it, a thought now forgotten. Furthermore, one morning in Porrera, the neighbors who have been coming almost every day in the month he's been open assure me that the croissants are very good. So it's clear he'll have to do this for many years to come.

Let's continue. The bakers have told him that more bread was consumed in the past than it is now, but he assures us, based on his experience in Porrera, that people like it. "Every day we make a different type, and people order from us for each day. For example, buckwheat has sixteen regular orders a week," says the baker. And the same thing happens on weekends, when he makes bread with organic flours and many stone-baked ones. Then he makes the black olive loaves and the sliced bread. "The flours I use on weekends are different from those I use during the week, but both come from the Coromina flour mill in Banyoles," explains Borja.

Finally, two important notes. The name L'Esclopet is a thoughtful decision. He found the word in a favorite book that explains how to make Jacint Torrents' bread called Bakery bread (The Hermit collection). clog, which refers to the glove farmers wore on one hand to protect it from the sickle they used to use on the other to cut the wheat," he explains. Today, the wooden clog is framed inside the oven. And the second note is that those with a sweet tooth and in love with dough make the Christmas note, which he likes, and he thinks that too much leavening goes hand in hand with his passion. The village night in Porrera, by Vall Llach

The Vall Llach winery, run by winemaker Albert Costa and Isa Serra, celebrated the third edition of its village night on Saturday night, July 5th, commemorating the viticultural milestones achieved by the DOQ Priorat winery, which opened in 1997. This year, the winery partnered with Girona Montse Molina. And as in the three previous editions, the common thread was a love of wine and the Priorat landscape, with its hillsides and terraces, and seemingly endless mountains stretching out into the distance. Music was also present, with songs by young musicians (Pere Martínez and Tomás Lorenzo). Life, by Lluís Llach. The celebration took place in four stages: the first, at the El Mirador de Porrera landscape, at the heights of the town from where Mount La Sentiu was clearly visible, and where the first Barbadillo wine tasting took place (Mirabrás, 2022).

Next, the aperitif at the same winery Vall Llach, in the Plaza de Catalunya, where the wines were tasted: Sumatorio 2020, and Horta Colomer 2024. The third moment, the dinner, seated, in the main winemaking room of the winery, where the Poniente wines (Barbadillo) were opened, which the winemaker Albert Costa confessed are unique because it was his father, a teetotaler, who decided to make it from this grape variety), Mas de la Rosa 2023 (made with black Cariñena; one of the winery's little dolls) and the Atamán V de Barbadillo, an aged vermouth, as described by winemaker Montse Molina. Finally, The town festival had one last stage, l'Horta Colomer, where he continued the songs (with vocals by Juan Manuel Galeas; José Santiago on guitar and Fran León on percussion), and also with Ancestral de Vall Llach (white and red garnacha) and Toto Barbadillo (palomino fino and chardonnay).