Chefs who also bake bread (and can be eaten at home!)

Moisture content, kneading, gluten content, homemade sourdough... Baking requires not only a precise touch, but also rigorous training, which more and more top chefs are mastering. Many of them are rediscovering ancestral know-how by preserving the heritage and gastronomic values of old varieties of wheat, like Eric Frechon, who is opening his own bakery in the basement of the Bristol in Paris in 2018. This is the result of his meeting with renowned artisan miller Roland Feuillas, based in Cucugnan.

In Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, Régis Marcon is a forerunner of the genre. In 2004, he revived the heart of the village by opening a bakery that no longer existed. A symbol of the essential neighborhood business, the bakery has once again become a delightful stop-off for those who like to make a detour to grab a well-made crumb. At La Chanterelle des Marcon, the selection varies with the seasons: traditional, rye, cereal, country, fruit, Nordic, petit épeautre, peasant, wholemeal, chestnut bread, fig-chestnut bread, gluten-free bread, nut bread, buckwheat bread.

Proudly offered in the deliciously garnished baskets of many gourmet restaurants, the homemade breads of great chefs are now at the heart of the customer experience, one that goes beyond the limited time spent at the table. At Baumanière, for example, where Glenn Viel matches his dishes with different types of crumb, bakery courses reveal the secrets of recipes for sourdough, foccacia and even burger or hot-dog buns. Count on 150 euros for a four-hour course given by Gauthier.

But if you don't want to get your hands dirty, a growing number of top chefs have added a grocery store or sales outlet to their table, where you can buy the same bread served as part of a gourmet meal.

The latest initiative is in Saint-Emilion. In association with family firm Banton-Lauret, Château de Troplong-Mondot has just opened a bakery at the entrance to the village, named after the Bordeaux estate's restaurant: La Petite Perdrix (the restaurant is called Les Belles Perdrix, ed. note). And here are some other samples in this selection.

Le Garde-Manger, Emmanuel Renaut, Megève

" We've always made our own bread for the restaurant," says Emmanuel Renaut. He continues: "I've never appreciated baskets that bring together a plethora of bakery varieties, such as flaky brioche, foccacia and so on. I've always found that they don't fit in with my cooking. What's more, they're often dishes in their own right, so hearty that you want to devour them before you even start your meal". Accompanied by two bakers to manage production, Emmanuel Renaut draws his know-how from his meeting with Alex Croquet thirty years ago. "He's a baker from the north of France who helped me a lot in the way of working and respecting the whole bread preparation process," reveals Emmanuel Renaut.

In the kitchen at Flocons de sel, the chef with five toques uses local flours such as those from Trièves, near Grenoble. " I prefer local wheat to an old variety from the south of France," he confides. Rye, malt, spelt... Chef Renaut has his own mixes to compose a sourdough bread and another in which he adds a hint of yeast (one gram per kilo to be precise). " In the same spirit as a seasoning, I use different varieties added to a basic flour to obtain a bread with character".

But it's only sourdough bread that you'll find in his Garde-Manger, the delicatessen he opened in summer 2022 in downtown Megève. " With our sausages and ready-made meals, customers were clamoring for a bit of bread. So it made sense to add a bakery offering," explains Emmanuel Renaut.

• 107 Rue du Général Muffat de Saint-Amour, 74120 Megève
• https://emmanuelrenaut.com

Emmanuel Renaut

Le Petit Couillon, Alexandre Couillon in Noirmoutier

It all began in 2021 with a delicatessen stocked with fleur de sel and essential local produce grown in Vendée and Pays de la Loire. But what could be more obvious than a good piece of bread to spread mackerel rillettes or seaweed butter on? Since last year, Alexandre Couillon has been rounding out his neighborhood offering with a daily homemade bakery production. The five-toque chef makes sourdough bread from ancient wheat flour. A producer, Anne-Laure Jolivet, is responsible for growing this variety exclusively for Couillon. Flour, salt, water, and that's it! Alexandre Couillon's ambition was to return to the origins of bread's original flavor, consulting the late artisan Thierry Delabre. Sourdough bread is equally at home in gourmet restaurants, bistros and hotel breakfasts.

• 1 rue Marie Lemonnier 85330 Noirmoutier-en-l'île
• www.instagram.com/le_petit_couillon

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Levain, Olivier Nasti in Kaysersberg

Kouglof, baeckeoffe, Schneckekueche... Alsace has a long tradition when it comes to cooking and baking. Cherishing this patience comes naturally to chef Olivier Nasti, who has opened a bakery in the summer of 2022. The promise is in the name: levain. Ever since he met a baker from Digne-les-Bains, nicknamed Lulu, who uses millstone-ground flour and kneads all his breads by hand, Le Chambard's top chef has been committed to creating baking recipes in which one of the key ingredients is none other than time. In turn, Olivier Nasti wanted to bring the taste of authenticity to local customers. Country, rye, buckwheat, dansk or cereal, small spelt... a whole range of loaves is kneaded to satisfy every preference, to be bought by the kilo.

• Rue du Tir, 68240 Kaysersberg
• www.lechambard.fr/fr/boulangerie.html

ILYAFOODSTORIES

Mitron Bakery, Mauro Colagreco in Nice

At Le Mirazur, the gastronomic journey always begins this way: a basket of bread invites you to break a slightly warm crumb, nestled in a delicate napkin. Perched on his rock in Menton, Mauro Colagreco has made bread a symbol of sharing and generosity. But not just any loaf. As a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity, it's a matter of course to make bread with flours that do no harm to either the planet or human beings. For his artisanal bakery Mitron Bakery, which has locations in Menton, Monaco and on the Cours Saleya market in Nice, Mauro Colagreco offers breads only from regenerative and organic flours, made from ancient wheat that has never undergone any genetic modification: Barbu du Roussillon, Méteil, Khorasan wheat, Rouge de Bordeaux, Pétanielle Noire de Nice... To be enjoyed straight from the oven, or in sandwiches.

It was following a meeting with the legendary Cucugnan flour producer Roland Feuillas that the four-toque chef decided to restore a staple food to its rightful place, using ancestral know-how. In Menton, not only does Mitron Bakery have its own bakery, but the balls are baked in an oven dating back to 1906, wisely hidden in the alleys of the Côte d'Azur city.

• Halles Municipales, Rue Pélisson, 06500, Menton
• www.mitronbakery.com

COLINES CS

B.O.U.L.O.M, Julien Duboué in Paris

We met him on Top Chef. We devoured his tribute to his Landes roots at the A Noste restaurant launched in 2014. And then we fell for his "bakery where you eat" concept when it opened in April 2018. Everything has been said about this all-you-can-eat buffet where you dip your spoons into generous dishes that have simmered overnight. But it would be reductive to focus solely on this offering. Because B.O.U.L.O.M is also a bakery that Julien Duboué uses to defend the values of ancient traditions, those nurtured on ancient wheat. A neighborhood business, his concept supplies baguettes, pains boules and other country breads, the same as those chosen to accompany your plate at the buffet.

• 181 Rue Ordener, 75018 Paris
• http://boulom.net/