Deconstructing Poilane
A couple days ago, we moved from the Marais (near the Hotel de Ville in arrondissement #4) to Saint Germaine de Pres (in #6). We love the Marais, but we'd basically seen everything we wanted to see after 2 weeks. Furthermore, we realized that while three people, lots of laundry, and one small apartment might be economical, it was not super comfortable. Moving meant a new area to explore and a slightly larger apartment.
Just a block from our new place is Lionel
Poilane's boulangerie (8 rue du Cherche-Midi, in #6). His "pain
Poilane" -- an 18" round loaf of bread -- is world renowned. We'd even seen
loaves in Vancouver, B.C. selling for $100! Our good friend Leslie was
thoughtful enough to bring home a loaf to share a couple years back. It was a
nice treat. Poilane is all about traditional French breadmaking. It's
essentially a sourdough bread with just four ingredients: flour, salt, water,
and levain (a raising agent made by mixing flour with water and allowing it to
ferment). Each baker is assigned an oven so they can learn its quirks, etc. It's
all good. D loves it, but honestly, it's too dense and dry for my tastes. I
suppose if I applied enough butter to the problem... ;-) I'm more impressed by
Poilane's business savvy -- who would have thought that you could create a
successful international business with a loaf of bread?
But the real star, IMO, was the small, innocent-looking apple tart sitting in the shop window. I love fruit tarts, so I had to get one. D isn't into apple tarts, but she got jealous and got one too. Wow! Wow! Wow! D says that this is one of the best things she's eaten in Paris. That's a serious statement. I was blown away, but having had so many yumalicious pastries, I just can't rate one above the others.
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Posted on October 29, 2005 |
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