It's Thanksgiving Time: A Journey to Golden Crown Panaderia

As I travel across this great country, celebrating Thanksgiving with all types of folks who have their own unique traditions, I find myself in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where a father and son team have been baking up New Mexican specialties since 1972. My destination is Golden Crown Panaderia, a place that definitely knows how to make a guy feel welcome. It's no surprise that the bird - or rather, the turkey - takes center stage on this special day.

All began in 1972 when military man Pratt Morales had a dream he always wanted to pursue: to be a baker. Everywhere he traveled in the military, he was at the local bakery, and it took just another 30 years for him to find a reliable business partner, Quinoa for the CEO, so he raised his home together. The result is a one-of-a-kind menu that's all about Bisco Cheetos. Morales likes the pumpkin empanadas, but when it comes to Thanksgiving, the turkey is absolutely the star of the show.

Preparing a Turkey at Golden Crown Panaderia

At Golden Crown Panaderia, I met with Pratt Morales and his son, who shared their secrets for making an incredible-looking turkey. It all began by making a dough that would serve as the wheat part of the turkey - the leg, drumsticks, and wings. The ingredients included stone ground wheat flour, bread flour with lots of gluten, a little salt, shortening, molasses for color and sweetener, honey garlic, and water. To mix it all together, they used multiple mixers.

Once the dough was prepared, Morales explained how to make three parts of the turkey: the drumsticks, wings, and the white part - the breast. The wheat part was cut into small pieces, which would be shaped into leg, drumsticks, and wings. The white part, made from a different type of flour with sugar, salt, shortening, water, and yeast, was then carefully placed over each piece.

Twisting the dough in a specific way helped create the desired shape for each part of the turkey. Next, Morales added an egg wash to give it a golden color, sprinkled some rosemary, parsley, rice, and finally waited for it to be ready. When sliced open, one could see that this was no ordinary bird - its beauty was undeniable. It had huge crust on it but remained pillowy soft inside.

After many years of perfecting their turkey recipe, Pratt Morales' family has become experts at creating something truly special with each piece. They take pride in serving up a holiday meal that is more than just food - it's an experience.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso it's thanksgiving time now on diners drivings and dives i have traveled all over this great country meeting all types of folks celebrating this holiday their own way so here i am in albuquerque new mexico where a father and son team have been baking up new mexican specialties since 1972 and wait till you see the type of turkey they fake this is golden crown panaderia and they definitely know how to make a guy feel welcome it all began in 72 when military man pratt morales got after what he really loved to do i always wanted to be a baker and everywhere in the world that i traveled in the military i was one up at the local bakery and it took just another 30 years to get a reliable business partner quinoa for the ceo so i raised my home together they turned out a one-of-a-kind menu it's all about the bisco cheetos here i like the pumpkin empanadas but when it comes to thanksgiving isn't that beautiful it's no surprise that the bird is absolutely the word okay what are we gonna make i'm gonna make some dough and this is gonna be the wheat part of the of the turkey the wheat part which is the leg the drumsticks and the wings got some nice stone ground wheat flour this is bread flour a lot of gluten in here put a little bit of salt in there a little bit of shortening and let it mix for a little bit some molasses that's going to give us some of the color but also some of the sweetener too and to soften up the dough a little bit we're going to put some honey garlic beautiful and now we're going to add some water to it i'm going to add it slowly little by little by little time for these we got all the mixers in there so here we go chop it bring it all out here and what i'm going to do now to make a turkey is going to be made in three parts i'm going to cut the drumsticks the wings is going to be about half a pound there you go i have another dough that i need to make the white part of the turkey which is the breast white flour a little bit of sugar salt the shortening touch water and add the yeast well here we go okay how long have you been doing this about 40 years 40 years you've been making this oh this is gonna be the drumsticks i see it the dark meat and then we're gonna do the body which is the white part of the turkey the breast and this is gonna go right in here seriously okay and i'm gonna twist it like this now we're going to do the wings okay now we're going to cut the top part of the turkey separate it there you go and then the wings separate them over here also the boat taxidermist giving you a little texture there you go and i'm gonna do a very light egg wash give it the golden color some rosemary a little bit of uh parsley a little rice as high as you will okay wait for it ready here we go guys look at that that's beautiful isn't that beautiful thank you people would like to have a turkey that looked that good i'm gonna slice you a peep okay how is that i like to have some of the knee a little knee right there big crust on there i get a little bit of that molasses there you go try some of the breasts there's a good part right there it has huge crust on it but then it's just pillowy soft on the inside eat a little bit of that rosemary on that on that bread tastes like holiday right off the bat youso it's thanksgiving time now on diners drivings and dives i have traveled all over this great country meeting all types of folks celebrating this holiday their own way so here i am in albuquerque new mexico where a father and son team have been baking up new mexican specialties since 1972 and wait till you see the type of turkey they fake this is golden crown panaderia and they definitely know how to make a guy feel welcome it all began in 72 when military man pratt morales got after what he really loved to do i always wanted to be a baker and everywhere in the world that i traveled in the military i was one up at the local bakery and it took just another 30 years to get a reliable business partner quinoa for the ceo so i raised my home together they turned out a one-of-a-kind menu it's all about the bisco cheetos here i like the pumpkin empanadas but when it comes to thanksgiving isn't that beautiful it's no surprise that the bird is absolutely the word okay what are we gonna make i'm gonna make some dough and this is gonna be the wheat part of the of the turkey the wheat part which is the leg the drumsticks and the wings got some nice stone ground wheat flour this is bread flour a lot of gluten in here put a little bit of salt in there a little bit of shortening and let it mix for a little bit some molasses that's going to give us some of the color but also some of the sweetener too and to soften up the dough a little bit we're going to put some honey garlic beautiful and now we're going to add some water to it i'm going to add it slowly little by little by little time for these we got all the mixers in there so here we go chop it bring it all out here and what i'm going to do now to make a turkey is going to be made in three parts i'm going to cut the drumsticks the wings is going to be about half a pound there you go i have another dough that i need to make the white part of the turkey which is the breast white flour a little bit of sugar salt the shortening touch water and add the yeast well here we go okay how long have you been doing this about 40 years 40 years you've been making this oh this is gonna be the drumsticks i see it the dark meat and then we're gonna do the body which is the white part of the turkey the breast and this is gonna go right in here seriously okay and i'm gonna twist it like this now we're going to do the wings okay now we're going to cut the top part of the turkey separate it there you go and then the wings separate them over here also the boat taxidermist giving you a little texture there you go and i'm gonna do a very light egg wash give it the golden color some rosemary a little bit of uh parsley a little rice as high as you will okay wait for it ready here we go guys look at that that's beautiful isn't that beautiful thank you people would like to have a turkey that looked that good i'm gonna slice you a peep okay how is that i like to have some of the knee a little knee right there big crust on there i get a little bit of that molasses there you go try some of the breasts there's a good part right there it has huge crust on it but then it's just pillowy soft on the inside eat a little bit of that rosemary on that on that bread tastes like holiday right off the bat you\n"