Last year, I tried 180 restaurants, and the best thing I ate that entire year was this corn masa cake.

The next year, the chef who made it was named one of the 10 best young chefs in the US.

[music] Today, I want to learn the baking techniques she uses to turn panadoria staples into [music] award winners.

We love this one.

We love this one.

[music] >> It's humbling to get the baker's morning experience.

It's currently 4:45 a.m.

[music] So, this is the koncha dough.

We pressed out the koncha shells with a tortilla press so that they're nice and flat.

and Nigette is slapping them on there and then we're [music] stamping them with a goncha cutter.

Because we do them ahead of time, it's super important that they are the perfect temperature so that we can cut through the shell but not the dough.

Everyone's recipe is going to be slightly different.

I am often told that our konchas are like salty.

People saying it's fand [music] why isn't it?

>> Can you talk a little bit about sugar levels in general?

I think our taste buds have been sort of like shocked by the amount of sugar that we consume.

It's in everything.

We're addicted to it.

So, I'm trying to like break out of that.

[music] How you feeling with these shells?

I mean, I'm trying to nourish people, right?

I don't want the people that I feed to get sick.

[laughter] And I think that comes from just seeing my family [music] not be the healthiest because they just didn't have access to nutritious food that they could afford.

I've got four siblings.

I'm the oldest girl, which means I was like the third parent to like an immigrant family and that's why I don't have kids.

So, my dad was like, you know, crossing the border back and forth a lot in the 80s.

They stayed here to have kids and [music] have a better future for their children.

The immigrant dream.

People [music] know that bakers are up early, but I don't think they've really thought about what that lifestyle is like.

>> What do y'all think about [music] waking up at [laughter] >> I personally like have to be in bed [music] by 7:30 to wake up at 3:30.

>> I think it's pretty isolating and really hard.

I say no to a lot of things.

I feel [music] really grateful that everyone is willing to wake up early to be here.

I just should be transparent.

I don't always get here at 5:00.

I get here at 6:30 sometimes.

>> I think you've earned it at this point to some degree.

[laughter] >> This is one of the many times I wish for smell of vision.

These are the corn [music] masa cookies and the fragrance of them coming out of the oven.

It's very similar to cornbread.

It's really wonderful.

>> Like in Panaderas, right, you have all of the super traditional just sugar cookies.

I really wanted to have a sugar cookie that wasn't super sweet.

And then I just tested it out.

I just kept messing around with it.

It's really simple.

It's just a sugar cookie with mustard.

It's got olive oil, Texas olive oil at that Texas corn flour, sweet potato in the base as well, which I think makes it like a little more complex.

>> Can you just tell us a little bit about your thinking behind your sourcing and what kind of drives you there?

>> I think it's just like the practical thing to do.

I think for so long it was what we did.

We like supported our local communities, but we've lost our connection to understanding how food is grown.

It takes like [music] one generation to get disconnected from that and it takes one generation to go back to it.

I'm hoping that I can help lead others back towards knowing what's going on with our food.

Someone suffers whether it's the land, the workers, just do things right, man.

>> Is there ever like a consideration for how things are stacked in the oven?

>> Oh, absolutely.

The ficasha has to be at the very bottom so that the [music] bottom can get crispy.

The empanadas release a lot of steam, which is good for the ficasha.

Actually, we're working with budget equipment that we love and maintain.

[music] >> But what I would do to get like a proper proper bread oven, >> it looks so beautiful.

And the olive oil also smells incredible.

Is that the same Texas olive oil?

>> Yeah, same Texas olive oil.

That's the fun part.

>> What is [music] that?

You're making those dimples so that you create little air pockets to kind of catch the olive oil.

So, I think that's what makes ficasha so delicious.

The oil kind of seeps into these little pockets and [music] when you bite into it, it's really like savory.

And I love our ficasha.

We'll [music] make sandwiches with it one day, but for now, we'll just top it off.

>> Oh god.

[music] >> Spread it out.

And then I like to do like halfway and then halfway.

I go that way.

Sorry.

What's that for?

>> We're doing a [music] carrot cake with a white chocolate ganache and a grapefruit curd on top.

>> I think she's the best person we've interviewed at like just giving us a quick rundown of an item.

That was great.

[laughter] >> You guys do a lot of specials.

I feel like pretty much every week, right?

You're changing >> something on the menu.

I feel like that's kind of exhausting, but it also is creative.

Maybe.

>> I mean, I don't think it's that exhausting, right?

Maybe exhausting for me.

Okay, maybe it's a little exhausting, but also I think it keeps things fun.

It pushes our skill set and our creativity.

And also like [music] you work with what you got.

I can't always get strawberries.

I can't always get that [music] carrot.

Also, we use what we can afford.

Sometimes some weeks it's slow and I can't afford those super nice white strawberries that are growing.

What do you think of that?

>> Yeah.

>> Cuz it's the first time you ever made it, right?

>> Yeah.

>> [music] >> Yeah, it's got good diggle.

These just came out of the proofer.

We're checking to see if they have been pushed [music] to their limit.

Maybe a little bit longer on these.

>> In even the most precise kitchen, they're still like touch it with your finger and you know kind of thing, you know.

>> It's a crap.

>> Yeah, >> it's a crap.

It's 7:24.

[music] >> Why are you running?

No running in the kitchen.

Can we talk about these beauties here?

These [music] are sourdough chocolate croissants.

>> Yes.

I've actually had a way [music] easier time working with sourdough.

I think because it's slower, it gives me more time to participate with it, more time to see what it's doing and to [music] talk to it.

We make the batons in house.

The Mexican chocolate tends to be a little bit more acidic, so we want to find the right balance.

And then the glaze is a little bit sweeter.

It's kind of help balance [music] out the tartness of the chocolate.

>> Do you have sourdough in any of the other items?

Was that >> everything except the konchas are sourdough?

The croissant.

If we make a kalachi, we put it in the tortillas.

We put it in the empanada dough.

It's easier to digest.

It slows things down.

It tastes good.

It's better for you.

It allows you to incorporate more whole grains.

>> Just awesome.

So, almost everyone's favorite, the pink cake.

Pink cake, I think, has so many different versions, right?

But I've had some that tastes like corn, and I was like, well, I'm just going to take this corn to the max.

It's like such a classic simple simple thing.

Corn flour, baking powder, salt.

You need some You need some corn.

>> Because it's such a wet batter, it's really nice and satisfying to watch it.

>> Yeah.

Your arm gets kind of tired straight up.

>> Yeah, that Oh my god.

So, these have been soaking overnight.

[music] Wow, look at those.

Just the texture of them.

We're obviously getting the beans ready for the breakfast tacos.

Those are a relatively new item.

What was your motivation to get those on the menu?

>> I've always wanted to have breakfast tacos.

[music] Like, growing up in San Antonio, a breakfast taco is essential to us.

Bean and cheese is what I grew up eating with a big red.

I know >> the flour tortilla is something you had made before as well cuz those are more of like a baking element to me.

[music] >> Yeah.

The tortilla is very very very very very important.

Like we're hand rolling those peppers.

All of the savory stuff.

All of the recipes are my mom's recipes.

>> The beans are crazy.

>> They're good, right?

Which is interesting cuz it's only beans, salt, serranos, and olive oil.

Oh, there's also garlic.

>> What?

>> I know.

>> What?

I'm telling you, when I had this vegan cheese taco the first time, I literally thought it was like every spice.

I can't believe that [music] it took us 3 years to get to the point where we can close the bakery so that we can try and rest.

Everyone gets 4 weeks a year paid time off.

[laughter] Laura went to New Orleans.

Nikolai did a popup.

Sylvia went to PR to eat ice cream.

Amanda went to Marfa to go get married.

We need time.

We need time.

[laughter] >> Yeah.

>> We started this business to be different.

We're seeing what works and what doesn't work.

So far, this is working.

>> For a business and hospitality this small, that's like unheard of.

>> And for a [music] bakery, I don't know if y'all know this, but like bakeries have the worst margins.

The worst margins.

People will only pay so much for a piece of bread.

They pay more for a damn cup of coffee than a piece of bread that takes three days [music] to make.

This has been like years upon years of just trying and failing, having like everyone else's input, working around [music] everyone's skill set.

Everyone deserves to work, make enough to live, pay your rent, eat good food, take care of your [music] family, and not have to work more than 40 hours.

I started this crazy ass business.

They shouldn't have to suffer because I have this dumb idea of making a bakery with like really uh hardcore ethics.

You know what I mean?

[music] Okay.

What we have is what I think is the best breakfast taco in Austin, Texas.

I've been thinking about this bite all day.

I promise you, you didn't think beans could taste this good.

I'm going to try to explain what makes this deceptively simple cake so good.

Gives it the texture of almost like a trace leches and a cornbread hat.

A beautiful child.

For the next pastry, I'm going to have cappuccino cuz I'm about to have their vanilla concha.

Give it a little dunk.

Slight bitterness from the coffee, sweetness from the top part.

In Italy, [music] they start the day with a cornetto and a cappuccino.

But here, get a koncha and a cappuccino and you'll love your life.

The croissants here are tart.

It's complex.

It's weedy.

If you are a gluten-free individual, Komadre [music] Panadoria has naturally gluten-free items that are made with corn.

This one is crumbly.

It has a soft corn interior.

Why do regular sugar cookies exist?

Why would I ever eat one of those again?

The carrot cake with white chocolate ganache.

A smart person [music] would cut this up.

You know, that's not me.

You're getting spices.

You're getting those delicious carrots she puts on the pkatcha.

The pkatcha is also sourdough.

[music] You see these beautiful carrots on top.

This lovely green sauce.

The sourdough aspect of it gives it so much more character and depth.

They always have empanadas.

They change slightly what's on the interior.

[music] Today, slurry of chickpeas and peppers.

The peppers and the chickpeas and the cheese are Oh my god.

It's the marriage of deliciousness.

My love.

Kadra means like friend, godmother, homeg girl.

To me, it represents safety, communication, trust.

[music] I wanted that to be a part of the bakery.

Our pastries are like a total [music] culmination of everything I've experienced from it just being pandul cuz I'm Mexican-American.

weird Texmex stuff because I grew up in Texas, but [music] I lived in Seattle and love fruits and vegetables, nutritious, beautiful whole grains because my family grew up being really sick.

I love punk and hardcore music, so [music] ethics are always deeply embedded in how we run this business.

So, yeah, it's like everywhere.

My mom, amazing cook, my dad, [music] amazing cook, but they did not have time to cook and they were poor working-class folks here.

They [music] weren't able to grow their food, be a part of it, be one with it.

We love tradition and we honor that.

But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be constantly [music] progressing and changing and adapting.

And I think that's what we're doing here.

Every day [music] is an opportunity to practice our craft.

Feel the dough, feel the ingredient, look at it, touch it, smell it, and just give intention with your art because I think we are artists.

>> Yeah.

>> I believe that labor should be your biggest expense.

[music] You should be investing in people.

We price our food so that we can survive as a [music] business and treat our employees well.

It's just that simple.

We make bandulce.

People want bandul to be cheap.

It's food.

It's food with labor.

It's [music] expensive.

If you're treating people well so that they can live in a city, especially an expensive city, you need to pay them, [music] plain and simple.

And they need to have a consistent wage that does not depend on tips.

the way you treat your employees.

Do you feel like that's impacted by [music] seeing your parents and the way they were treated in the industry growing up?

>> Definitely.

I did not have [music] the best experiences in in restaurants.

I was overworked, underpaid, [music] harassed, yelled at, sexually abused, treated like nothing, and I saw my parents go through that.

I [music] did not want to perpetuate a cycle where I exploited and abused people.

The whole point is to do better, [music] to learn from your experiences and treat people better and like value them.

I just don't ever ever ever want to do that to someone.

[music] It's really important that we set the example.

If we as a bakery in an expensive, gentrified part of Austin, pulling off 4 weeks of PTO, a health and wellness stipen, everyone makes above living wage.

If we can do it, me with no investors, no generational wealth.

If I can do it, other people could do it.

[music] [singing] >> And it's accidentally [music] vegan.

Oh, >> that's my favorite kind of vegan.