After perfecting his sourdough recipe a few years ago, University of New Mexico alum, farmer and entrepreneur Mateo Romero started selling home-baked sourdough bread on his pop-up porch stand last year.
This weekend, Romero’s sourdough bread and pastries made from wheat grown at his family farm in Veguita, New Mexico will be going to brick and mortar in Nob Hill when El Pan Bakery and Farm officially opens its doors on the corner of Central Avenue and Solano — about one mile from UNM’s Central Campus.
Originally from Belen, NM, Romero said he started baking professionally two years ago and practiced his sourdough recipe over about five years, during which he became “obsessed with the process and tried to perfect it.”
“We were just starting out selling with our neighbors, family, friends, people who were interested and it kind of really took off,” Romero told the Daily Lobo. “People were happy with the product and then on top of that, I started doing pastries because I didn’t know anything about fine pastries. So I just started practicing that and getting good at it.”
Having attended culinary school at Central New Mexico Community College, Romero said he was initially interested in cooking hot food until his wife Caitlyn Romero — also a recent UNM alum — started baking, leading to his interest in sourdough.
“(Sourdough) is hard to perfect and learn and get it right because there’s so many variables, and you have so many outcomes every single time you bake,” Romero said. “We wanted to stay away from store-bought bread and wanted to make and use our own breads and do it the traditional way.”
Romero said part of his vision for the space is to practice the Swedish cultural tradition known as “fika,” where people take a moment to recharge, pause work, put devices away and connect with others over fresh coffee and pastries, according to Visit Sweden.
“You don’t even need to talk. Just sit and be silent for a moment to yourself or a moment with your friend, so nothing fast-paced,” Romero said. We put warm, homey brick in here and wood colors, just to keep it that kind of home feel.”
Romero said the bakery will also source and distribute local products from farmers and artists, citing how several of the coffee mugs in use are handmade in-state by makers including Lucky Tiger and Whiskey & Clay.
Romero said the wheat in his baked goods is pesticide free and that he started growing it on his family farm when he started his baking venture.
“When we were experimenting with the wheat, there’s been a lot of challenges with when to plant it, finding equipment to plant it, and finding equipment to harvest it,” Romero said.
Romero lives in Albuquerque with his wife and son Arlo, but grew up on his family’s farm, where his grandpa was a farmer who raised cattle and passed it down through the family.
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“It’s been a three-year challenge because we needed all the right equipment. That was a challenge itself because all farm equipment in the U.S. — New Mexico specifically — is really expensive,” Romero said. “We had to actually get older equipment from the 1970s.”
New Mexico’s drought conditions also bring challenges for growing wheat, Romero said.
“We had to really work with the (Middle Rio Grande) Conservancy (District) to schedule us right where we can get this wheat grown with the least amount of water possible,” Romero said. “Plus, we planted our red winter wheat, so really we need just one or two good waterings before the winter and then hopefully there’s enough moisture in the winter to really sprout it in the spring.”
Despite the challenges, Romero said he is committed to growing wheat for its nutritional purposes and to separate his bakery from others in town.
“It’s fun to be out there farming and watering and just connecting with the land,” Romero said.
Finding a building for El Pan also proved to be difficult because of high prices, older buildings requiring expensive renovations and building owners living in different states or countries.
Romero said he also experienced challenges working with the City of Albuquerque, whom he said he felt as though “don’t care.”
“It just seems like everything’s not set up for local businesses to grow and start up quick,” Romero said. “Everything we’ve done has been a two-week delay, minimum, no matter what we’ve done, so it was pretty challenging working with the city.”
UNM sophomore Kazimieras Giedraitis said he runs the event planning and marketing for Run Club UNM, and part of what they do as an organization is visit local businesses near campus. As part of that goal, Run Club UNM visited El Pan on Oct. 3 during the bakery’s soft opening.
“Since El Pan is kind of the new coffee shop on the block, it was fun seeing us bringing in the customers,” Giedraitis said. “It was really great, the owner of El Pan is such a cool person, he took care of us, let us use the space.”
Run Club UNM shares the same principle as its Albuquerque-based counterpart, Run Club ABQ, which entails running throughout the city and highlighting local businesses, though Giedraitis said their club focuses on Nob Hill and UNM-area businesses specifically.
Giedraitis said that the club had already highlighted Prado Coffee, Seemo’s Slices, Amalie Coffee and Sukoon Coffeehouse, among others.
In addition to locally-roasted coffee, Romero said that El Pan also plans to eventually serve sandwiches and locally-sourced chai and matcha.
He hopes to open the bakery with freshly-baked goods for El Pan’s grand opening on Saturday.
“We’re just really trying to connect with the community and sell our bread for a good price, and make sure everything’s made in a traditional way and everything’s authentic and has good ingredients, so it’s actually good for you,” Romero said.
Leila Chapa is the photo editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the news editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on X @paloma_chapa88
Leila Chapa is the photo editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at socialmedia@dailylobo.com or on X @lchapa06
Paloma Chapa is the news and multimedia editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at multimedia@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @paloma_chapa88
