Pão Francês Day in Brazil Date in the current year: March 21, 2025

Pão francês is known by many different names throughout Brazil: cacetinho (little stick), carioquinha (little carioca), pãozinho (little bread), pão aguado (watery bread), pão careca (bald bread), pão de água (water bread), pão filão (loaf bread), pão Jacó (Jacob’s bread), pão de sal (salt bread), and others. It is a short cylindrical roll with a golden crisp crust and a soft white crumb (inside).

The exact origin of pão francês is unclear, but it certainly originated in Brazil, although its name suggests otherwise. According to one theory, it was invented in the early 20th century when wealthy Brazilians who had enjoyed baguettes while visiting France, asked French bakers to teach them how to make this type of bread. However, while baguettes are long and thin, pão francês is smaller and rounder, despite being made with the same ingredients (flour, yeast, water and salt).

A similar theory claims that pão francês was invented in the kitchens of the wealthy residents of São Paulo around the onset of WWI. Their personal cooks allegedly created the bread after being asked to reproduce the crispy French bread that their employers’ children had encountered on their travels to France.

However, there is also a theory that pão francês originated during the colonial period, more specifically during the reign of Dom John VI of Portugal. The Portuguese royal court was based in Rio de Janeiro for thirteen years, from 1808 to 1821. During this period, the king encouraged the importation of wheat flour to bake bread, as it was uncommon in Brazil at that time. The bread baked with wheat flour imported from France was called French bread (pão francês).

Originally limited to the royal court and wealthy elites, it became more common in the 1900s as wheat flour became more accessible to the general population. From Rio de Janeiro, pão francês spread throughout the southeastern region of Brazil and eventually throughout the country.

Be that as it may, pão francês is the most popular bread in Brazil. According to the São Paulo Bakery and Confectionery Industry Union and Association, more rolls of pão francês are baked daily in São Paulo than the city has inhabitants. Pão francês is also included in the basic food basket in Brazil, which means it has been exempt from federal taxes since 2013.

Pão francês is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as used as a base for various sandwiches, such as Brazilian hot dogs, bauru (melted cheese, roast beef, tomato and pickled cucumber served in a pão francês crust), and x-caboquinho (fried plantain, tucumã shavings and queijo coalho served between two buttered slices of pão francês).

The origins of Pão Francês Day are as unclear as the origins of the bread itself, but that does not stop Brazilians from celebrating a holiday that honors their favorite bread.