Another Foodie French Friday and today we are talking bread. Not just any kind of bread, but a bread so special, from a one-of-a-kind bakery, that the bread itself is named after said bakery.
Pain Poilâne {peng pwa lahn}. Here is what the good book says:
" This bread is a creation of the Poilâne family, who opened a bakery in the Latin Quarter of Paris in 1932, the Poilâne bread is a handmolded sourdough wheat bread, made of stone-ground flour, flavored with sea salt from the marshes of Guérande in Brittany, and which is, to this day, still being baked in a traditional wood oven.
Thanks to its unique taste and color (grayish-brown), and obvious nutritional qualities, as well as the great PR work in Lionel Poilâne, who took over the business in the early 1970's at a time when industrial white bread was very much en vogue.
Yet, despite the opening of a second bakery in Paris and one in London in 2000 (the first authorization in more than three centuries to build a wood oven in the city that had banned them since the Great Fire of 1666), the Poilâne miche (a round loaf of about 4.2 pounds that bears a 'P' signature) remains handcrafted, thus preserving the philosophy of its creator, Pierre-Léon Poilâne. He believed that, along with the choice of quality ingredients, the handcrafting process made all the difference between an authentic product and industrial breads. Needless to say, Pain Poilâne is simply the best bread for any tartine."
When in Paris, it is very common to see tartines (open-faced sandwiches) advertised as being made on Poilâne bread. In fact we visited one of them, Cuisine de Bar, coincidentally right next door to the famed Poilâne bakery on rue Cherche-Midi.
I first learned of Poilâne from The Barefoot Contessa. She waxed poetic on her shows about Paris and her love of their bread- and she goes into further detail in her cookbook, Barefoot in Paris, where she got a backstage pass on the breadmaking and had her picture taken with the staff, holding the popular signature miche.
Giada has even raved about their bread!
And if you can't get to Paris- the great thing is that you can actually order their bread on-line and have it delivered fresh, right to your door. At least in the States. It sure ain't cheap- but it is a bit cheaper than a plane ticket!
Have you tried Pain Poilâne?