Lluís Febrer: “We make pastries for everyone; they just happen to be suitable for people with coeliac disease too”

Itiziar Lecea/Ferreries - Lluís Febrer, a pastry chef and baker from Ferreries, received the Foodies on Menorca Award for Best Bakery/Pastry Shop in Menorca at the latest Fira Arrels. At the head of a bakery with more than four decades of history, Febrer has made gluten-free production one of the business’s main hallmarks, without ever giving up the roots of traditional pastry-making and baking.

Now retired but still involved in the bakery, he has handed over the business to his daughter Maria and his son-in-law. The result is a pastry shop that retains its traditional essence while successfully adapting recipes, processes and products to offer high-quality food suitable for people with coeliac disease and, at the same time, appealing to any customer.

How did you receive the news of the Foodies on Menorca Award?

The truth is that it came through the official channels, so to speak, and we were very grateful. It is work that we do because we enjoy it, and receiving an award at a certain point gives you encouragement to keep going and carry on working. It is motivating and gives you a boost. When you have been doing a job for so many years, having someone recognise what you do is always gratifying and helps you to continue.

Your history with pastry-making goes back a long way. When did you start?

I was very young. I was 23 when I decided to set up the bakery and pastry shop. Before that, I had worked at Pastisseria Serra. When Joan Serra died, his son Toni Serra continued the business, and I was working there as well. When he retired, nobody in the family wanted to carry on, so they offered it to me. And I said yes.

Did you start in the same premises where you still work today?

Yes. We started there and later moved it to our family home. We had premises at my parents’ house and we set up the bakery and shop there. It is the same place where we still work today. The space is the same, although obviously the bakery itself has changed over the years: we have modernised the machinery, expanded and continued to grow.

Beyond the machinery, what did you preserve from that first stage?

The most important thing was not the machinery, but the recipes and that way of working. I learnt from them and then started applying what I had learnt. Over time we also continued expanding our knowledge. I had the opportunity to attend courses at the Barcelona School of Hospitality and Pastry-Making, as well as courses run by different commercial companies. That allowed us to broaden our range.

And when did gluten-free products become part of the business?

It started for a very personal reason. Our youngest son was born in 1995 and, when he was three years old, he was diagnosed with coeliac disease. From then on, we realised that he could not eat the same things as us. As best we could, we made bread and pastries at home, both for him and for ourselves.

And that family need became a professional specialisation.

Yes. Through a friend, Mireia Pons, who also had a daughter with coeliac disease and was a representative of the Coeliac Association in Menorca, we came into contact with the association. We started making bread and desserts for gatherings and, little by little, people began to get to know us. Then more orders came in, and we even began sending products outside Menorca.

That must have required great precision in the bakery.

A great deal. For a period of time, we had to divide the bakery between conventional and gluten-free production. Everything had to be kept extremely clean and we had to monitor utensils very carefully to avoid any traces or cross-contamination. Later, we had separate equipment for each production line. We also completed the training required by the Coeliac Association of Catalonia, and everyone who has worked with us has undergone that training. In addition, we carried out regular analyses of the products, and they always tested negative for the presence of gluten.

Until you took the final step and made the entire production gluten-free.

About three or four years ago, we stopped the conventional line and switched everything to gluten-free. And we are the only ones in Menorca who make everything gluten-free.

What is the most difficult thing about making gluten-free pastries?

Making something gluten-free may seem easy in principle: you simply avoid using wheat flour. But the problem is everything around it and, above all, avoiding cross-contamination. It is also important to have certification from an organisation that guarantees that you are doing things correctly. That gives people confidence.

And despite specialising in gluten-free products, you still maintain a very traditional foundation.

Exactly. We come from traditional pastry-making and baking. That is what we know and understand. We have learnt other things, but this is our foundation. What we have tried to do is adapt the same formulas and recipes we used before, while achieving the highest possible quality, flavour and appearance. We have always worked very hard to maintain the quality we had. That is why we say we make pastries and bakery products for everyone. They just happen to be suitable for people with coeliac disease too.

Do you have customers who are not coeliac but still come to buy from you?

Yes. In fact, there are many people who are not coeliac and do not have any kind of allergy who come every week to buy our pastries. In the end, there is not that much difference. That is a guarantee that the quality is good: if you have a choice and you choose our product even though you have no problem with gluten, it means it works.

The business is now in the hands of your daughter and son-in-law. Is there a future for the pastry shop?

I hope so. The business has remained stable and I would say it is growing, because more and more people are choosing gluten-free foods, even if they are not coeliac. There are also specialists who recommend that certain people buy bread from us. We have had customers tell us that their doctor recommended coming here because they were going to undergo tests related to coeliac disease and needed to spend some time eating gluten-free.

After more than forty years, an award such as the Foodies Award must have a special meaning.

Yes, because it is recognition of work that we have been doing for many years. And above all, it gives us a boost to carry on. They are the ones running the business now, but I am still there, helping whenever needed. In the end, it is about continuing what we started more than forty years ago, while adapting it to changing times.