A visit to a Moroccan bakery in Tanger

My friend Nourdine took me to visit a neighborhood bakery in Tanger called Legaspi. Since I arrived in Morocco, I have been very intrigued by the local breads that people consume everyday. This bakery started in 1930’s as a bleach factory and in the 1940’s it was sold and transformed into a bakery. During WWII they use to sell breads to the US marines while they were in Tanger. It has essentially been working without interruption ever since then.

I love their simplicity, the breads are yeasted breads made with white wheat flour and they only offer two products: the Spanish Torta and Baguettes. The Baguettes we all know but the torta is quite characteristic from Morocco, it is a round yeasted flat bread, which in this bakery has two variations, one sprinkled with semolina and one without; very simple.

The breads are very affordable to anyone; 1 Dirham each and the bakery has a reputation for giving away to the poor that can’t even afford the price.

I watched many local women, men and kids come for their daily ratio all throughout the day.

The bakery sells an average of about 3000 pieces of bread.

Now take a deep breath and inhale the smell of yeasted dough being made and breads coming out of the oven.