A renaissance in bakery
Embracing traditional bread-making techniques, organic and heirloom flours, and short supply chains, the french twenty-first-century bakery trade is breaking the mould. The number-one priority is taste.
In recent decades, while it was still possible to find decent bread, it was hard, with ingredients and processes designed for speed, at the expense of quality. Tired of seeing this staple of the French way of life swallowed up by industrialisation, a new generation of bakers burst onto the scene just over a decade ago to offer alternatives to the ubiquitous, standardised baguette.
Their aim was to break the mould and promote natural ingredients, traditional know-how, local sourcing and quality bread. In Lyon and elsewhere, the neo-bakery trend has picked up pace and traditional bakeries, such as Jocteur, Pozzoli and Kayser, have been joined by new artisans committed to offering authentic bread. Among them is Bastien Malugani of Partisan Boulanger, who has plied his trade in the Croix-Rousse district since 2014. After graduating with a degree in psychology, he trained as a baker at the Institut National de la Boulangerie Pâtisserie and began his career working alongside Benoît Fradette, the famous ‘Farinoman fou’ (mad flour-man) of Aix-en-Provence. In addition to mastering the techniques and recipes, he also learnt how to reflect, because “leaven and fermentation are living things".
Lend me your ears
In alternative bakeries, bread is often sold by the slice and by the gram. It is made without yeast, but using natural leaven and French flour, from organic or heirloom grains (including wheat, as well as spelt wheat, buckwheat, rye, rice, millet and more). The bakers are more than happy to share their knowledge about ingredients, as well as the art of kneading by hand, fermentation times and moisture levels. They are all equally passionate about what they do and have a socially engaged outlook.
Take Christophe Girardet, for example. Founder of the bakery Victor & Compagnie (Lyon 69007), he is also the co-creator of a regional wheat-flour-bread network that ensures farmers receive fair payment for their work. At his bakery, similarly to many artisanal bakeries, round loaves are the star products and the range is deliberately kept narrow, so as to concentrate on bakery know-how. At most you may find a few carefully selected pastry products.
This is the case at Antoinette, a bakery named after the famous historical figure, and Paume de Pain, where puff pastries and baguettes are nowhere to be found. Why is this ? Because, for the founder, Sylvain Hanriot Colin, the latter embodies all of the profession’s bad old ways. Happily for us, a profusion of excellent new bakeries have opened in Lyon in recent times.
La Miecyclette
Founded ten years ago, this cooperative now has eight members, who together shoulder the production, sales, delivery and management duties. Sold in slices from 1 kg round loaves, their organic bread made with natural leaven is kneaded by hand and baked in a woodfired oven. In their shop in Lyon’s 8th district, you will find semi-wholemeal bread and Einkorn wheat bread (baked in a mould), as well as muffins, cookies and (the latest arrival) a fruit cake. For orders of 10 kg or more (you may need to bring your neighbours or colleagues on board), you can even have your bread delivered by cargo bike.
Fournil Alma
After recently moving to the Totem neighbourhood of Villeurbanne, Guillaume Artaud has been working hard to make flavoursome, natural leaven bread accessible to all. Behind the glazed frontage of his bakery, you can watch the kneading, fermentation and baking of his products, including the ‘Supertranche’, a moulded farmhouse bread made with semi-wholemeal flour, and the ‘Michette’, a white-flour bread made with Khorasan leaven. You will also find the ‘Alma’ brioche (vegan, made with olive oil), and beautifully made biscuits such as the navette, offering a flavour of southern France, and the croquant, a small crunchy almond biscuit.
Paneterra
After switching career to pursue his passion, Nicolas Barret began making bread using home-made leaven and traditional fermentation, which allows time for the flavours to develop. Try his signature bread, Le Patriarche, plain or with seeds, his polar and wholemeal bread, as well as his special breads (with olives, curcuma and sunflower seeds). What’s more, Paneterra is a living space where you can have lunch or afternoon tea.
Les Frères Barioz
Masters of the croissant and galette des rois (Twelfth Night cake), the Barioz brothers are also passionate about quality bread, made with natural ingredients and 100% leaven. Arnaud, an artisan baker since 2013, and his brother Mathieu, in charge of sales and marketing, offer 1 kg round farmhouse loaves in, spelt wheat bread and gluten-free bread. You can also sample their original and mouth-watering creations, such as their braided brioche with rose water and raspberry, tarte tropézienne with kaffir lime, and passion fruit-coconut religieuse (round eclair).
Bonomia
Mayé Lepoutre was inspired by the word ‘bonhomie’, which can be translated as ‘good-nature’, in the choice of name for her new bakery. Heading up her all-women team, this qualified biologist experiments with moisture and fermentation times to create living, organic, 100% natural and nutrient filled breads. Her range includes moulded Einkorn wheat bread, farmhouse bread, oatmeal porridge bread (a reference to her Mexican roots), as well as plain, chocolate and home-made caramelised-almond brioches.
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