Córdoba's own loaf: a flat, wide, three-lobed bread with a pale crust and a dense open crumb, made for soaking oil and for thickening salmorejo rather than for sandwiches.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
The telera is a Córdoba bread and it exists because of what the city eats. Its crumb is dense and slightly dry, which is exactly what a mortar wants when you are building salmorejo or mazamorra, and its flat three-lobed shape comes from the way the dough is cut and folded before proving. Panificadora La Catalana has baked on Calle San Pablo since 1890 and works the same sourdough starter it has used for a century. Panadería El Brillante, open since 1919, supplies bread to some of the best kitchens in the city, and its technical director José Roldán was named World Baker of the Year by the UIBC in 2025.
Common allergens: Gluten
Tip from the editors. Do not bake it dark. The telera is meant to stay pale and slightly dry, which is what makes it work in a mortar.
La Catalana has baked on Calle San Pablo in Córdoba since 1890 and still works the same sourdough starter, turning out the city's telera loaf.
Order: A telera, the flat-crowned Córdoba loaf that anchors every bowl of salmorejo.
Tip: Morning trading only; the shutters come down at 14:30 and it does not open Sunday.
Worth the queue: Telera cordobesa
David Ruano bakes long-fermentation sourdough in Córdoba with no additives, holding two stars from the Ruta Española del Buen Pan for the work.
Order: A telera, or whichever designer loaf is baked for the restaurants that day.
Tip: There is no seating at all, so buy the bread and eat it somewhere else.
Worth the queue: Telera cordobesa
Panadería El Brillante has baked in Córdoba since 1919, its technical director José Roldán named World Baker of the Year by the UIBC in 2025.
Order: The pastelón cordobés, then a magdalena rolled in sugar.
Tip: It supplies bread to some of the best kitchens in the city, so the loaves go early in the morning.
Worth the queue: Pastelón cordobés
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