Nāta Baking Co. is the Perez family's artisan bakery in North Portland, Oregon. Karla and Pedro Perez bake for a self-serve, honor-system bakery stand at 3605 N Willis Blvd every Saturday and Sunday, with naturally leavened sourdough on one side of the table, conchas and pan dulce on the other, and thick NYC-style cookies in between.
Karla is the heart of Nāta. She grew up in Mexico City, where she ran a bakery of her own, and she still loves to bake and share that with the world. Often shy, she's the glue that holds the bakery together. She prefers the bakes and the cookies.
Pedro grew up in Fairview, Oregon, and has always loved the culinary world. He looked at attending Le Cordon Bleu; when that path didn't come to pass, he kept teaching himself, and now the family is here, baking for North Portland. Pedro prefers the breads.
Mia is their daughter, the diamond that keeps them going.
Nāta began in two kitchens a long way apart. Karla grew up in Mexico City, where she ran a bakery of her own. Pedro grew up just east of Portland in Fairview, Oregon, and taught himself his way around a kitchen.
Today the Perez family bakes together in North Portland, with Mexican pan dulce and conchas next to naturally leavened sourdough, set out every weekend on a little stand on N Willis Blvd.
Behind every weekend is a week of feeding starter, shaping dough and early mornings.
Our sourdough is naturally leavened with our own starter and given a long, slow ferment, then scored by hand and baked the morning of the stand. Everything is made in small batches, so when a bake is gone, it's gone until next weekend.
Our table puts two baking traditions next to each other: naturally leavened sourdough bread and Mexican pan dulce.
Conchas lead the pan dulce, soft sweet bread under a crackled sugar shell, with seasonal shapes rotating in through the year. Beside them sit our thick, gooey-centered NYC-style chocolate chip cookies, which tend to sell out early.
The menu rotates every week, with seasonal bakes and specials that come and go. Each weekend's lineup goes up on Hotplate before the stand opens.
You'll find us at 3605 N Willis Blvd in North Portland, Saturday & Sunday, 10:30am – 6pm, or until sold out. Look for the little wooden stand with the corrugated metal roof and its doors open.
It's a self-serve, honor-system neighborhood stand: come by, pick out your bakes, and pay on the honor system. Everything is baked in small batches by the Perez family, so when a bake is gone, it's gone until next weekend.
If there's something you don't want to miss, preorder on Hotplate before the weekend and pick it up at the stand during open hours.
Before it held a single loaf, the stand was a pile of lumber in the garage: a pine frame, a plywood floor on casters, and a corrugated roof.
