Portugal: Nazaré

Welcome back for another Surf Bubbles episode in Portugal! This time, we set our sights on Nazaré, which is best known for serious big-wave surfing. We don’t live too far from here and always seem to enjoy our visits. If you can’t tell in these clips, we were in our happy place as we ambled about. Since we’ve been here before, we had a pretty good idea on where we wanted to go and what we wanted to capture on this endeavor. But this video really only scratches the surface on what it feels like to explore the area. We always seem to find something new and exciting each time, so this probably won’t be our last attempt at a video here. Some of you clicking on this might’ve expected more coverage of surfing big waves. I mean, hey, it’s Nazaré after all. While we’re enjoying those types of filming activities in side projects, we were mostly focused on trying to capture some exploration vibes of this beautiful little surf mecca for the viewer. Which is really one of our core objectives for all of our destination videos. While the waves weren’t as massive as they can be on the day of our visit, we still had many moments where we just stopped in our tracks to watch surfers hunker down on waves that looked to be between 6 and 8 meters. Just draw dropping to behold and I sometimes wished I had lugged my telephoto lens along that day. But it’s always a reason to go back for the big ones next season, hey.

For our bake sequence, you can also see that Michelle crafted some of her unbelievable sourdough english muffins. She has honed her method on these to a point where I don’t really see any areas for improvement. She would never say that of course, as she is a continual perfectionist in her baking, but I suppose I’m just spoiled and extremely biased. Always savory, fluffy and toasty, but never sweet, they really make one of the best egg sandwiches anyone could ask for. The aged cheddar she chose was next level, too. We seriously get a kick out of taking her creations into the wild, and you may notice after watching other videos that’s it’s our main focus on this channel. While we’re on the subject of Michelle’s delicious creations, we are planning more detailed bake videos to be released alongside the respective destination videos on future posts. Maybe you should subscribe and see what she comes up with next?

And while we’re on the subject of hiking around in the wild, you’ve probably noticed that we can sometimes get thirsty. So what better way to wash these sammies down than with some bubbles. In this case it was a Conde D’Ervideira Reserva Brut Sparkling Rosé made in the traditional method. Not sure if you can see the full glory of those thin bubbles in our travel tumblers but holy cow was this bottle smooth. The paring might seem blasphemous to the uptight, but the minerality subtle notes of fresh stone fruit and balanced acidity totally hit the spot on that beautiful day. For those wondering, the grapes in this bottle are Aragonez, otherwise known as Tinto Roriz in northern Portugal and Tempranillo in Spain blended with an indigenous Portuguese grape called Alfrocheiro. If you should find yourself in Portugal, we highly recommend visiting Ervideira in the Alentejo wine region. Their Wine Lounge and Monsaraz (medieval village) tasting experiences are quite memorable. And please note that they are not an official sponsor of this video, we are just fans of their work.

🫧 As always, don’t forget to pack out what you’ve packed in, drink responsibly and leave zero trace.

🫧 This video is not sponsored by any of the products, or locations, featured. We are just fans of their work.

Muito obrigado e Até Breve!

❤️, 🌊🫧 (Michelle and Chris)

CHAPTERS:

00:00 - Wandering and Scouting

02:40 - Slow Morning at Home

04:50 - The Bake

07:50 - The Egg Sandwich Build

09:30 - The Hike

12:50 - Map Highlights and Commentary (NEW!)

BAKING NOTES:

Ingredients:

• 500gm all purpose flour

• 245gm milk

• 120gm water

• 9gm salt

• 100gm stiff sourdough starter*

• 56gm unsalted butter

• 20gm honey

• Cornmeal or semolina for dusting

*Stiff sourdough starter fed at 1:5:2.5 using 80% strong/bread flour and 20% whole wheat flour

Instructions:

• Mix ingredients except for cornmeal/semolina

• Rest dough covered for 30 minutes after mixed

• Knead by hand X 10 minutes

• Recover dough and let rest 90 minutes

• After 90 minutes perform 1 coil fold and shape dough into ball

• Place dough in covered container to rise for 8-12 hours or until doubled in size

• Once adequately risen, place in refrigerator covered overnight

• Next morning: release cold dough from container and roll out until ~1/2 inch thick (1.3cm)

• Cut each muffin using a biscuit mold/cutter (could also use a water glass with ~3 in diameter)

• Place formed muffins on parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal or semolina

• Sprinkle top of muffins with cornmeal or semolina then cover muffins and let rest at room temperature for 1.5-2hrs

• Pre-heat large skillet over low heat (cast iron works best)

• To ensure your muffins don’t stick, make sure your muffins are adequately dusted with cornmeal/semolina before placing in the pan

• Cook each muffin ~6 minutes per side (you may need to turn your heat down if muffins are browning too quickly)

• Let rest for 30 minutes on cutting board or baking rack before eatingix ingredients except for cornmeal/semolina

• Rest dough covered for 30 minutes after mixed

• Knead by hand X 10 minutes

• Recover dough and let rest 90 minutes

• After 90 minutes perform 1 coil fold and shape dough into ball

• Place dough in covered container to rise for 8-12 hours or until doubled in size

• Once adequately risen, place in refrigerator covered overnight

• Next morning: release cold dough from container and roll out until ~1/2 inch thick (1.3cm)

• Cut each muffin using a biscuit mold/cutter (could also use a water glass with ~3 in diameter)

• Place formed muffins on parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal or semolina

• Sprinkle top of muffins with cornmeal or semolina then cover muffins and let rest at room temperature for 1.5-2hrs

• Pre-heat large skillet over low heat (cast iron works best)

• To ensure your muffins don’t stick, make sure your muffins are adequately dusted with cornmeal/semolina before placing in the pan

• Cook each muffin ~6 minutes per side (you may need to turn your heat down if muffins are browning too quickly)

• Let rest for 30 minutes on cutting board or baking rack before eating