Alison Jane Lobo, probably the loveliest baking instructor in all of Goa, is keeping both taste and traditions alive, finds Nichola Pais
Not just eating your daily bread but baking it too…If scores of Goans — by location and by heart — are currently strengthening their bond with their favourite pao in a most elemental way, a good bit of that credit must go Alison Jane Lobo’s way. The popularity of her Goencho Pao baking classes is rising as beautifully as the loaves she bakes, and are keeping tradition alive for the coming generations.
Tucked away in sunny Goa, Alison shares that her romance with bread started via her father, who managed to discover the secret of making the dough rise. “It was a great event when he made bread and he was keen that I try my hand at it,” she shares. Gradually it started becoming more of a necessity when the local baker, who would supply bread at the door on cycle blowing his air horn to announce his arrival every evening, all but disappeared. “It is an age-old tradition prevalent in Goa though now on the wane. We used to be stranded without bread as we had to drive down to the bakery to buy it. We started buying in bulk and freezing the bread which really worked out well,” she reveals.
Alison Jane Lobo
The shutting down of their local bakery and the possibility of living minus their daily bread, spurred her to give bread-making a more determined shot. For a girl who is no chef and had never done a course in baking, the prospect was daunting but far from impossible. “Yeast is the genesis of bread, the mystery fungus which has fascinated minds for centuries. I started experimenting with different types of yeast available locally. After a lot of experimentation, failures and successes, I managed to get to make this humble living organism work for me. It was thrilling to see the dough expand, a dream come true. Presto! My trays were now full of blooming loaves and when I put them in my humble home oven it worked!! I had wonderful golden-brown loaves straight from my oven. The house was full of the lovely aroma of freshly baked bread. My home suddenly became ‘The House of the Rising Buns’!” Alison beams.
She soon started experimenting with different types of whole flour. “It was now my passion to make the humble Goan Oonde, Poie, buns and other traditional Goan bread. Amazingly the traditional bread has persisted in our society for decades even after the changing environment in Goa,” she marvels. It soon dawned on her that if she taught more people, it would help revive the dying art in the hands of a few. “If families could make Goan bread at home, it would be passed down to generations,” she explains, citing this realisation as the reason for holding classes. A simple announcement in the local papers and social media and the responses poured in. “People, mostly Goans, were contacting me from all over Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and far and wide as Canada, Dubai, U.K. and Portugal. Callers included housewives, hoteliers, pastry outlet owners, fashion designers and simple everyday people including children.”
Her initial nervousness at conducting a class melted like a knob of butter on hot bread. She had to fit in the seven basic tenets of bread making – mixing ingredients, kneading the dough, forming the loaves, first rise, second rise, traditional Goan shaping of loaves and finally baking – and it went swimmingly. “Once the course started, the enthusiasm was amazing and the dough surprisingly bonded the students together sharing the experience and dream of making bread,” she shares. The break time, situated during the period of rising of the dough, was a winner with her serving various traditional bread which she had earlier sandwiched with her mother’s delicious fillings. “The students got to taste what they were about to make. At the end of the course there were so many golden loaves of all kinds spread out on the table which the students divided to take home. A quick parting photo ended the class,” she recounts.
Alison’s baking classes
The WhatsApp group she started saw students sharing their experiences and innovations. “It was a satisfying feeling to see that the students had instant success the very next day. Hoteliers were planning to introduce Goan bread in their menus and I hear one student is setting up a factory to produce our much loved Goencho pao. People started phoning me to take orders which I passed on to the students, I think I achieved my wish to keep the tradition of Goan bread alive. Three hundred students in three months!! Viva Goencho Pao! Viva the new generation of poders (bakers)!”
We will raise a toast to that – and we do mean some toasted poie!