Panadería Horno Lento

The oven at Horno Lento is fired before dawn, and by 7:30 the trays are lined up in the window: sourdough conchas with crackled vanilla and chocolate shells, guava rolls glazed until they shine, and cuernitos so flaky they leave a trail down your shirt.

Everything is made with a slow sourdough starter and Mexican wheat, so the crumb is soft but has real flavor. Get there before ten for the cardamom buns, which are knotted, sticky and dusted with sugar, and gone by mid-morning. In January the counter fills with rosca de reyes, and every slice could hide the little figure.

Take a tray and tongs, choose your bread, then sit at the pavement tables with a café de olla spiced with cinnamon and piloncillo. In the afternoon the light comes in low across Marsella and the bakers start on tomorrow’s dough.