Memories of our ‘hornazo’

The Lagarteran ‘hornazo’ is a very special type of pie that is eaten on April 25th, the feast of Saint Marcos, after Easter, a day that Lagarterans celebrate with excursions to the countryside.

At the Hermanos Moreno bakery, we used to make hornazos with Candeal bread made with sourdough. That’s a special kind of bread with a thin crust and dense crumb. Inside the pie we put bladders (a cured sausage made from lean meat cooked with oil, salt, garlic, paprika, and oregano), chorizo, and boiled eggs.

Making the dough.

Lagarterans went to the bakery to collect the dough and took it home to make their hornazos. Once they’d finished making the pie, they returned to the bakery to have it baked in the bakery oven.

Each hornazo had a paper with the owner’s name written on it.

Pablo Rincón bringing a hornazo to bake.

People stayed in the courtyard talking until their hornazo, or the ones they’d brought with them, were ready to be picked up. They always left a tip for using the oven.

It was great fun because while people were waiting, conversations were started about how they’d made their hornazos, and what they’d put inside them. Some people added loin or rib, according to each person’s taste.

Hornazo decorated for a fiancée.

If the hornazo was for a fiancée, it was special and larger than usual. It was decorated with bow ties in a nest, or two bow ties kissing, or with flowers. People competed to see who could make the most beautiful hornazo.

I often decorated these special hornazos because I had the most experience with decorations. Families asked me to do it as a favour, and I decorated the hornazo almost in secret so that the fiancée wouldn’t know that I’d done it.

Hornazos freshly baked just out of the oven. The large hornazo was for a celebration in Talavera.

My husband Carlos, who is Olvido’s brother, helped us a lot when we made hornazos. He had a good sense of humour, and entertained people while they waited.

Here’s Olvido, who had come to collect her hornazos.

Our bakery has closed, but this traditional hornazo is still made in Lagartera. It’s a part of our cultural identity, and thinking about it brings back wonderful memories.