I never tire of seeing artisan bakers at work; or of tasting their wonderful wares.
Last Saturday, at our tiny nearby market, I bought our usual bread and wine. We have a new man at one of the two village bakeries, and he's producing some excellent bread, including a Baguette Tradition which is stunningly good. I bought two (below).
It looks, and tastes like the very best Sourdough, but he assures me it's a Yeast bread. Wonderful with good Paté or Rillettes.
This discovery has come at a poignant time, as I've been shocked to hear that our regular, but more distant baker in Frayssinet-le Gelat, is selling-up; and goodness knows if the new owner will know how to bake decent bread. I hope they leave him their recipe book!
I know that the Frayssinet oven has proved difficult to master. Over the past 46 years, several bakers have done nothing but burn loaves and eventually given-up, which is why we were so happy with the current man.
So, goodbye to the lovely tanned Sandrine, and her baker husband with a Greek name; at least I now have an alternative; and much nearer to home too.
I'm jealous.
ReplyDeleteThis new man's bread is superb. Perfect timing too.
DeleteHere close to the house there are several boutique bakeries, it has become fashionable lately.
ReplyDeleteI think a return to proper bread making has become worldwide. Thank goodness!
DeleteI can just imagine the taste of that baguette...and the aroma! I see you also got a few litres of red to go with it. if the sun is shining then your cup runneth over.
ReplyDeleteThe red is what we call 'piquette'; very simple, cheap wine, for quaffing.
DeleteI'm also jealous, we don't have a small bakery left, the superstores and Greggs have just about finished them off.
ReplyDeleteYou're far more likely to find good bread at a superstore than at Greggs. I once (and only once) bought a pie there, it was huge, made from really cheap puff pastry, and was disgusting.
DeleteLike yourself, I did try a Greggs pastry slice, once, it was very disappointing. But they do seem very popular. perhaps peoples tastes are changing?
DeleteIf you look at a map of the distribution of Greggs outlets, you may be able to draw your own conclusion to this phenomenon. I shall say no more!
DeleteYou will miss Sandrine! I have an excellent artisan baker in the UK, his name is Paul.
ReplyDeleteI have an oven he can use, if he wishes to start a new career!
DeleteHave I mentioned it before? We ate better bread in Vietnam than we did in Paris. Given the French training of the Vietnamese in bread making would have been in the 1950s perhaps nothing about bread making has been changed about the method or style of baking in Vietnam since then. Yes, a tourist in Paris for a short time won't find the best bread.
ReplyDeleteFrance went through a really bad era of bread making, where everything was done for ease and time saving. Luckily things are much better now, and good bread can be found all over.
DeleteI have discovered, to my horror, that I am allergic to some of the French breads produced by local bakeries. I get a horrible acid stomach... however, if I buy bread that is made with sourdough... here in the village, their Tradition... I get NO sign of acid stomach... I make my own bread using our PanicSonnik as a dough maker... then I knock it back and let it rise in the warmth for 30 minutes before baking it... no acid stomach!!
ReplyDeleteStrange....
Oh, and the sourdough taste can be recreated happily without sourdough.... you can buy the dried powder of sourdough in the BioCoop stores... and it does work a treat... a very nice flavour!!
ReplyDeleteStrangely, the actual large Sourdough loaf I bought on Sunday doesn't taste at all like Sourdough, yet the two small yeast baguettes I bought at market do! Very odd. I shall go to BioCoop and see. Sounds interesting. I rarely make my own bread, but would like to do more.
DeleteIt is called PaniLEV' and it is alive enough to replace the yeast if you are using traditional methods.... in a bread machine, I don't feel it comes 'alive' fully, so I use it with half a packet of instant yeast.
DeleteFinding a baker that makes good bread is a delight.
ReplyDeleteAlphie
And an essential part of life satisfaction.
DeleteIf not sourdough the bread was probably risen very slowly. Hurried bread is never good...I suppose the extreme of that is the Chorleywood process, and you cannt really call the end product "bread" !!
ReplyDelete'Chorleywood' bread has its place. It makes very good Summer sandwiches, and the perfect toast for certain toppings. Otherwise, I agree, the name Chorleywood Bread is something of an oxymoron.
DeleteFrom your photo I can almost smell and taste that bread. My mouth is watering as I type.
ReplyDeleteI am a little obsessed by bread. I'm so fed-up with 'ordinary' bread, that when I find really good stuff, I get very excited.
DeleteI haven't had wine on the shopping list since forever, but good bread is on. Also, good butter. I ran my eye down the shopping tape last week and saw a single item for eight dollars. It was a pound of Irish butter. It is also more than my granddaughter has ever spent for butter. She is not a savvy shopper, and buys what she has been told to buy, but eight dollars a pound. I immediately tried it, and it was so good, I cannot describe. But never again. A shame.
ReplyDeleteI love really good quality butter. For a while, here, it seemed impossible to find, but there's been a resurgence, and it's available again. I think it was all being sold to CHINA.
DeleteAlways hard to find good artisan bread in this country too.
ReplyDeleteI thought the UK was very bread conscious these days. Great opportunity for someone.
DeleteThis was porn to me
ReplyDeleteI haven't eaten bread for weeks
You shouldn't deprive yourself. Staff of life, etc.
Delete