Pratt says most people come for his green chile bread, of which I admit to not being a fan of in general, but Golden Crown is an exception, and his bizcochitos. To his green chile bread, Pratt adds parmesan cheese, onions, tomatoes and other spices, completing its brioche-like appearance with cilantro and a top layer of dough shaped like a howling coyote. It doesn’t get more New Mexican than that, right? Golden Crown’s bizcochitos also take a less than traditional approach. Though the original biscochito is exactly that, Morales offers cappuccino and chocolate bizochitos as well as guilt-free, sugar free variety. I tasted them all on a recent visit and have to say the sugar-free biscochito is something I would order again. And for your information, I never choose anything sugar free.
Pratt Morales can often be heard espousing his baking philosophy: “First you have nutritious. Then there’s delicious. Then there’s beautiful.” Hanging out at the simple adobe structure that houses his bakery – they’ve also recently added a charming outdoor patio - this philosophy unveils itself in the form of traditional pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread), empanadas stuffed with blueberries, apples, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and cherries, dessert flautas (finger style cookies in apricot and lemon), marranitas (a molasses cookie) and “wedding cookies” (original or chocolate).
Then there’s the bread. I have yet to see a baker that experiments as much as Morales. Aside from the bread baked to look like a full sized turkey, he creates bread sculptures into just about anything his customers request. His bread portfolio includes faces of Greek goddesses, life-size trombones, a carriage, castles and even Santa Claus. For this, Morales has been identified as one of the country’s foremost bakers and often gets asked to make public addresses on the subject of baking.
Try walking into Golden Crown, greeting Morales and not walk out with a smile. Children are guaranteed a free bizcochito on each visit. However, as Morales sees it, regardless of your age, everyone is a “kid.”
“There’s only two kinds of people in this world,” Morales says, “young and younger.”
In business for the last 33 years and located for 17 of those years at its current location at 11th and Mountain, Golden Crown Panaderia bakes a large variety of breads and sweets to a fervently loyal following. Run by the energetic Pratt Morales and his 27-year old son Chris, Golden Crown’s products including his infamous turkey bread (a sculptured bread popular during the holidays), are both playful and downright good. If you don’t believe me, maybe Gourmet Magazine and the Food Network, both of which have featured their baked goodies, will change your mind.
CORNERSHOP
By Kevin Hopper
There are a handful of French bakeries in Albuquerque, One Italian bakery, a former Jewish bakery which was passed down to an Irish Catholic and that pretty much covers the ethnic gamut to my knowledge. But what of the Mexican bakery? The panaderia? There are also a handful of these, most of which are delegated to the North and South Valley areas of town. One in particular, splits the two and is perhaps the best example of New Mexican Bakery.
