Miquel Saborit Vilà has been awarded this Thursday with the Llesca d'Or of the Ruta del Bon Pa de Catalunya, a distinction that accredits him as the best baker of the year in the Catalan regions. The award recognizes the extraordinary quality of his bread and also gives him access to participate in La Ruta española del Buen Pan, which will award stars to the 80 best bakers in the State next November at the Gastrónoma fair in Valencia.
Saborit has prevailed over 70 other Catalan bakers who also obtained scores to be part of the Ruta del Buen Pan. The other finalists were Conrad Serra, David Hernández, Roger Canela, Ángel Zamora, Jordi Paradeda, and Marti Fortuny. The jury, made up of professionals from the sector, announced its verdict at an event held at the Estación del Nord in Barcelona after four days of organizing strict anonymous tastings to select the best bakers in Catalonia.
Specifically, the jury conducted a tasting in Barcelona for participants from the capital and the rest of the province, and also traveled to Cambrils, Benavent del Segrià, and Girona to taste the country bread made in the regions of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, respectively.
"It is very gratifying to receive this award and to be surrounded by artisan bakers who fight every day to produce a quality product," said Saborit after receiving the award organized by Panatics.
It is not the first time that Miquel Saborit receives recognition. In 2016, he was awarded the Best Young Innovative Food Artisan of Catalonia award, granted by the Generalitat.
With more than 10,000 followers on Instagram from all over the world who are captivated by the photos and videos he publishes of his daily work in the workshop, Saborit is a great expert in breads made with natural sourdough that he himself has developed. He was recently invited by the prestigious Hofmann Hospitality School to teach a course on this specialty.
Entrepreneur and self-taught, Saborit has earned the respect of his colleagues throughout Spain thanks to his tenacity, capacity for innovation, and commitment to maximum quality in his products. He never stops learning and last February he did an internship at the École Internationale de Boulangerie, focused on organic and natural sourdough breads.
Born 43 years ago, Catalonia's best baker of the year is also one of the Spanish references in the production of panettones, one of the most technically difficult products to make in the world of pastry. Totally artisanal and also made with natural sourdough, he has been selling them since 2012 under the Sabors brand during the Christmas campaign, although his dream would be to be able to sell panettone all year round. In 2015, he surprised the sector by making a panettone with virgin olive oil which, being less sweet, allows it to be paired with savory products such as ham.
His mastery of panettone has also received great recognition: his techniques and recipes have been included in the book Panettones y bollería de masa madre from the French publisher Bread Editions, an authentic treatise on this subject in which the Barcelona baker Daniel Jordà also participated.
Third generation of a family of bakers from Torellò (Osona), Saborit, together with his wife, Gemma Masnou, runs a business founded by his grandfather in 1941 and expanded by his father, Ton Saborit, now retired. The company has four stores in Torelló and Manlleu, two of them under the MesKpa brand, a concept that also includes specialty coffee, signature pastries, and an emerging catering line for individuals and companies in the Osona region. Saborit's philosophy is to produce 100% of the products it sells in a completely artisanal way. In addition to all kinds of special breads, the house's star products are the coca de forner, the coca made with eggs, and dry pastries.