TIVERTON, R.I. — Its circumference extends beyond the palm of a hand. Yeasty and butter-scented, a Portuguese muffin, or bolo levedo, isn’t a typical muffin at all. Resembling an English muffin, but without the nooks and crannies, spongier and with a touch of sweetness, it is a beloved breakfast bread in Portugal’s Azores islands.
Family-owned and -operated Central Bakery, founded by Tiberio and Leonor Lopes, bakes some of the best bolos levedos around. This is their sole product. The couple started the business out of their Swansea home garage in 1974. Today the Lopes family produces the bread in an expansive plant in Tiverton. They’ve turned this little-known breakfast specialty — now with the moniker “The 3 Meal Muffin” — into a thriving business. Local supermarkets (Market Basket, for one) sell them, and notable chefs around the country (like Daniel Serfer in Miami) use the bread for burger and sandwich buns.
The couple, now in their 70s, immigrated to Fall River from San Miguel in the Azores in 1967. Nostalgia for bolos levedos (translation: yeast cakes) led them to start the business. They couldn’t find the popular morning treat, which is served lightly toasted and slathered with butter and jam, at neighborhood markets, despite the area’s large Portuguese population.
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