How Filipino Breads Are Made Fresh Every Morning in this Traditional Bakery in Quezon

Our life's journey can be compared to making bread - we start from humble beginnings. Just as dough rises during the baking process, our lives also expand over time. My name is Pablito Casiño. I own this bakery, although I have passed ownership to my four children. Yeast enables the bread to rise and grow. This bakery was founded by my parents. They told me my father started baking in 1944. My father created all the recipes, initially selling pandesal and bonete breads. At first, my father did the baking while my mother managed the storefront with our assistance, despite our young age. Since I was 10, I observed the bakery's daily operations. I used to help my father prepare the dough for baking. Even in high school, I continued assisting him, allowing me to learn and master all his recipes and techniques. Initially, it was a family-run enterprise. However, as demand increased, running it alone became challenging, so we hired additional staff.

We open the bakery at 4:30 AM. Initially, my parents wanted me to prioritize my education. I studied Mechanical Engineering and worked in a plant for some time. However, managing the bakery from afar was difficult, and we didn't want to close, so I returned home. Recognizing the demand for our breads, we couldn't let the bakery disappear - that would be wasteful. Upon my return, they taught me everything about running the operations. Like pandesal, bonete is also popular in the mornings, but with a sweeter taste. We use molds to shape the bonete, forming it like a church bell - that's another difference from pandesal. It's ready! Bonete doesn't require any filling, as its flavor stands on its own, often enjoyed with coffee or hot chocolate.

Our pandesal is baked in a traditional woodfire oven. Many customers prefer it over conventional oven-baked bread, claiming superior taste from the woodfire method. We continue using my father's original recipes, adjusting based on customers' preferences. If they already love the taste, we don't alter the recipes - that's why we follow the same ones my father used decades ago. The bakery operates in two shifts: one at night for bonete, pandesal, and monay; another in the morning for loaves, monay, kalihim, pan de coco, spanish bread, and other baked goods like romano, broas, pan de pasas, otap.

I believe Tayabas Bakery has come a long way. When I started, we had less than ten people. Now there are around thirty staff. Initially, we only had this single location on Lucban-Tayabas Road, but now we also have branches in Brgy. Wakas and Brgy. Dapdap. I've held various roles like inspector and cashier - whatever is needed at the time. My staff already know their responsibilities. You have to love your work and care for your customers, understanding their needs. With co-workers, it's important to get along and treat each other well.

I'm proud to carry on my parents' legacy. This bakery has reliably sustained our family, enabling me to provide education for my children. I don't want my parents' legacy to end, so I passed the business to my four children, making them 3rd-generation owners. From a sole proprietorship, Tayabas Bakery is now a corporation. I'm glad it continues thriving today. It has significantly supported our family since my grandparents established it, enabling them to educate my father and aunts/uncles, and then our father did the same for us. Now I will provide my children with quality education through this business too.

My hope for Tayabas Bakery, which I hope my children share, is for it to remain an institution in Tayabas - grateful for the opportunity to serve locals by providing their daily bread. I hope this tradition continues for generations.