Argentinean and Mexican sweets at La Favorita Bakery

Brillantes de Crema

Once specializing in Argentinean styled bread, La Favorita Bakery in Lynwood now serves mostly pan dulce and other Mexican breads after a switch in owners. However, a glass cabinet at the edge of the red-tiled bakery still holds a few Argentinean loaves.

Photos were not allowed inside the bakery

Brillantes de crema, as baked at La Favorita Bakery, are peculiar sticks of bread, coated in a light glaze with patches of coconut. Like Mexican sweet bread, this Argentinean bread is rather sweet with visible sugar on top. Yet it is layered and flaky, like a sticky croissant.

Despite the look of its soft inside, brillantes de cream take quite a grind to get past their initial toughness.

Unforutnately, this is as much information on La Favorita Bakery I can give. While speaking with the woman at the registar, my father became outraged by a number of things:

• The woman's snark.
• The shift in ownership in the bakery.
• The price of the Mexican bread, which he thought was inflated.

Ultimatly, he stormed off I purchased some sweet bread, insulting the woman and the bakery the entire drive home. "Your courtesy sells more than anything else," he explained, trying to justify his rage for the place.

He has vowed to never return there, and I suspect that neither of us are welcome.

Little bakery with loads of Pan Dulce

Only about a block away from where my home in Paramount is a small South Gate bakery called Lucero Bakery Express that, for years, has made a variety of sweet bread along with vivid birthday cakes is the shape are characters like Winnie the Pooh and Cookie Monster.

Sweet bread, also known as pan dulce, is a popular Mexican pastry that comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s often eaten for breakfast. According to Amaribel Fernandez, cashier and cake baker, the sweet breads are typically prepared in the cold dark mornings. By 4:30 a. m., the breads are rising to the opening of the shop.

These little loaves, light and decorative, are often topped with sugar, some more than others. One of the most common types of pan dulce is the concha, which means seashell in Spanish. It sugary crust, ranging from white to brown to pink, creates a cracked turtle shell over the loaves. While sweet soft and savory, conchas and other pan dulces are not for the health-wary.

There are other, more mysterious sweet breads sitting on the paint-chipped racks of the Lucero Bakery Express. At first site, bread pudding appears to be nothing more than spongy square of dark, damp, raisin-filled bread. 

However, this lumpy-crusted bread is in fact a Frankenstein monster, recycled from the soaking remains of day-old loaves of bolillos, an oval shaped Mexican bread and cousin of the baguette. Bread pudding, moist to the touch, is an interesting combination of salty and sweet with a sugary tingle resonating at the back of your tongue.

Pumpkin bun at the Diamond Bakery

Every crumb is handled with care at the Diamond Bakery, located at the Artesia Oasis Plaza in the city of Artesia. Settled in a neighborhood with a wide variety of Asian cultures, including Chinese, Korean and Indian, the Diamond Bakery specializes predominantly in wedding cakes.

The bakery, sweet and modest in its pastel pink decor, lacks the aroma that one might expect. This is because nearly every confection is individually wrapped in maroon striped plastic and windmill-patterned paper. The rows upon rows of bread, buns and pastries shine under bright lights like a miniature art gallery.

The selection is astounding, especially for buns. There are pineapple buns, pizza buns, cocktail buns and more. They’re like snowflakes: each one is unique. The pumpkin bun, which is missing from the Diamond Bakery’s online menu, is paler than the others buns, resembling an uncooked pie with a pot belly.  Its surface is smooth with the occasional seed sprinkled on top.

I was surprised by how moist the bun’s bottom felt after freeing it from its elegant wrapper, giving only a faint sent of pumpkin. The first bite is chewy and sweet with something of a powdery texture. However, as I made my way to the center, I was greeted into a dark chasm of pumpkin filling.

As the name suggests, pumpkin bun is a sort of sugary pumpkin pie. However, not every bun might be as predictable as the last.

Shepherd's bread: a little soft dome with flour on top

Hidden behind green umbrellas and tall bushes, Giuliano’s Delicatessen and Bakery in the city of Gardena is packed from corner to corner with Italian goods. By the right-hand side of the entrance is the bakery, illuminated by window light. There’s so much bread that not all of it fits on the shelves; sacks of fresh baguettes, sour dough and other breads hang from the walls.

The bread I decided to purchase was a relatively small loaf of shepherd’s bread, which from a distance at the bakery, a resemble beige bicycle helmet with a light layer of snow.

However, unlike the hard headgear, shepherd’s bread is incredibly soft. The outer shell, while bumpy and rough at parts, is surprisingly supple. The spongy white bread almost dissolves in your mouth. 

Crumbs are the least of your worry when savoring this simple loaf. Flour, on the other hand, brushes off quickly from the bread to your clothes, so have a plate or napkin handy.

Shepherd's bread pictured at the top left at Giuliano's Delicatessen

The baking process is extremely simple, says baker “Eddie from Giuliano’s.” All it takes is regular yeast, flower, water, and a little bit of salt baked slowly for fluffiness. It’s during the middle of baking that flour is thrown onto the rising loafs.

Shepherd’s bread is simple, yet savory. In fact, it might be too simple when it comes to making sandwiches. It’s simply too squashy to hold anything together. Much of the bread's charm is also lost after toasting it the oven.