Through different perspectives on bread—understood as a primordial substance and a symbol of transformation— we explore the links between agricultural labour, religious practices and ways of living in community. From seminal works in the history of Portuguese cinema that fall within the ethnographic film tradition, to contemporary artist-led cinema and formal experiments in which the idea of waiting and fermentation takes shape, these films reflect the processes of producing and handling raw materials, often intertwining domestic intimacy, historical memory and a particular conception of time.