Bôla de Lamego: Terraces of puff pastry

"Coming to Lamego and not trying the “Bola da Sé” (meat bread) is like going to Rome and not seeing the Pope." So says Guilhermina Pereira, owner of the Pastelaria da Sé and daughter of Álvaro and Maria da Conceição, the founders of this corner full of flavours. Open since 1966, the Casa das Bolas, as it is better known, was born from the dream of this pair of pastrycooks.

The shop produces an average of 60 bolas per day, mostly Bolas da Sé with a generous filling of ham and prosciutto. Besides this typical Lamego delicacy, which is a daily favourite with tourists, there are also bolas to suit other tastes.

The menu is vast and caters for all tastes. Some people won’t forego the prosciutto in the bola, but prefer to have it with smoked pork sausage instead of ham. Others love it made with chicken, or filled with meat marinaded in wine and garlic. You would be mistaken if you thought the variety ran out here. There are also "marine" fillings on the menu, so you can also try cod or sardine bola.

If perhaps you belong to the group that chose to exclude animals from their diet, there is always a vegetarian bola available, as long as you order it in advance. And you can also ask, again by ordering in advance, for whatever bola suits your taste or takes your whim, with whatever fillings you dare to try.

A secret hidden in the dough

The softness of the dough is common to all the bolas, which is achieved by making a "normal bread dough", mixing flour, salt, baking powder and fat. Although it may seem a basic process, the people of Lamego say that good ingredients are not enough. There is, apparently, "a well-kept secret" in the process of making it.

They even say that, for this delicacy made in layers, "there isn’t exactly a recipe" and even if there were, it would never be revealed. So, the magic formula for this alchemy of dough and fillings will never be found, but be left with the contentment of knowing that you can always help yourself to another slice.

Guilhermina warns that the texture of these meat bolas is "much smoother than those made at home, which are always a bit coarse." Besides, these are also "fluffier and thinner, precisely because they have this sort of puff pastry".

Perhaps because of all these factors, most tourists are totally won over by the pleasures that these flavours offer them, and continue to go to the Pastelaria da Sé to appreciate what is already considered a characteristic product of the Douro. The rule is that once they succumb to gluttony and take the first bite, most become enraptured and "always want a little more."

Irresistible flavour

The fame that is gradually spreading across Lamego has already crossed borders and, although it is not usual to sell large quantities abroad, they know in the bakery that customers come to buy bolas with the purpose of taking them away and having others taste them.

The proof is in "a curious episode", a few years ago, with a client from Brazil. After arriving in Lamego and trying the Bola da Sé, he arrived back home across the Atlantic with one of the bakery’s visiting cards. A few years later, another gentleman, also Brazilian, presented himself in the bakery with that same card. It had been given him by the first, with the recommendation to visit the Pastelaria da Sé if he should happen to be in Portugal." When he found us he was extremely happy and asked to taste this wonder that he had enjoyed a few years before," says Guilhermina. 

The Lamego bolas are sold throughout the year, particularly in the summer months. This increase in demand is due mainly to the influx of tourists who move en masse to the region and emigrant communities returning for their holidays. Lamego bolas are a registered trademark and cost 7.5 euros each.

Text : Patricia Posse | Daniel Faiões

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