From Buenos Aires via Noma to the RUG Bakery

Gonzalo Guarda from Argentina was on holiday in Copenhagen and ended up in the kitchen of the world's best restaurant. Now, he is the master baker at the RUG bakery, sharing secrets of what all Copenhageners are currently craving.

Published: 27 June 2023

"It's just bread," an ever-smiling Gonzalo attempts to convince us, while studying a piping hot loaf in his hands.
He breaks it apart, using his well-trained senses to confirm that yet another batch is perfect. For we know that it's not just bread. The Argentinean master baker is baking the bread that's most popular right now — trendy sourdough bread.
From Buenos Aires to Copenhagen
Gonzalo originally hails from Buenos Aires but moved to Europe after completing his gastronomy studies. He worked at various restaurants but ended up in Copenhagen by chance during a holiday.
The Argentinean eventually landed a job at the world-famous Noma restaurant.
"I've always loved cooking. And I'm incredibly passionate about good ingredients and the processes behind what we make. Denmark and Copenhagen are exceptional when it comes to ingredients."
"When I got a job at Noma, I really got to delve into the essence and complexity of different ingredients and products. It was more than just being sustainable. It was a process," he explains.

The Sourdough Bread All of Copenhagen Wants

But Gonzalo wasn't content with working at what's been named the world's best restaurant. He wanted to forge his own path and was strongly drawn to the fermentation process behind bread and sourdough. It stirred something in the charismatic Argentinean, who then embarked on a journey at Meyer's Bakery before moving on to other artisanal bakeries in the city. He wanted to learn from others and combine his learning with his own knowledge and enthusiasm for cooking.

We ask him what the secret is behind the perfect bread.

"Well, the secret is a combination of several things. It's sustainability, organic principles, ingredients, season, knowledge, traditions, and simply treating it 100 percent as a craft. Kneading the dough with your hands, seeing, tasting, finding the right ingredients, learning and developing it. In the end, you get something that tastes incredibly good," says Gonzalo.

The sourdough bread, made from a mixture of water fermented with wild yeast and bacteria, is now gracing virtually all bakeries – with immense success.

The RUG Bakery in Villa Copenhagen
The rest is history, as Gonzalo is now the master baker at RUG, conveniently located in the heart of Copenhagen at the signature Villa Copenhagen hotel.
In beautiful surroundings, it serves fantastic bread and other pastries that tempt everyone to spend hours in the bakery, simply because everything tastes so incredibly good.
"We make sourdough bread from locally grown grain from a mill just a few miles outside of Copenhagen. That's how sustainable it is. This is local food," Gonzalo chuckles.
He hopes to use the same passion and enthusiasm in his craft to create culinary treats for Copenhagen visitors for a long time to come. Never resting and always with a smile at the ready.
"We must dare to experiment with different flavour combinations and forms all the time. But also preserve old traditions. This is always a process. Because it's just bread," laughs the passionate master baker.