Poilane, Paris

Pierre Poilane started his baking business in 1932, creating beautiful and large loaves of sourdough bread using stone-ground flour, natural fermentation, and a wood-fired oven.  Lionel Poilane began working at his father's bakery when he was just fourteen years old, and eventually took over the business by 1970.  Focusing on quality and the same true and tried ingredients and baking techniques, Poilane expanded the business.

Many years ago, I sat in my pajamas and watched my favorite Sunday morning show on TV.   In this particular segment, Dorie Greenspan, a bonafide baking authority, was interviewing Lionel Poilane in the basement of his shop on rue du Cherche-Midi.  He was showing her how to make his famous punition cookies. They stood there, in a dimly lit room; the fingers of his right hand were gently mixing in flour, eggs, and sugar.  The movements of his hand were slow, confident, and clearly, well practiced.  True love for the art form shone through as Monsieur Poilane talked about simplicity being the secret to baking.  

Four months after filming that segment, Lionel Poilane and his wife perished in a helicopter accident.

Following his tragic death in 2002, his eighteen year old daughter, Apollonia, took over the family business, at first running it out of her dorm at Harvard, with occasional trips to Paris.  Today, Poilane is still one of the most famous bakeries in Paris; it produces thousands of loaves of bread per day.  Some of the bread is still baked in their little shop on rue du Cherche-Midi, but most production is done at a large facility outside of Paris.  Their bread is shipped to stores, restaurants, and individuals in France as well as internationally.

This is one of my favorite places to visit while in Paris.  The bakery is not only beautiful, but it has that wonderful old world aura about it.

Their chausson aux pommes is fantastic, light, and filled with chucks of soft apples.

Their miche, sourdough country bread, is made with water, stone-ground flour, rising agent and an exceptional quality salt from Guerande (north-western part of France).  A piece of dough from the previous batch is used as a starter for the next batch of bread.

 The slices below have traveled home to NY with me; I never leave Paris without a few tranches (slices) of pain Poilane.  The bread is good for up to 5-6 days.

Another Parisian obsession, besides the Poilane bread are the punition-punishment cookies.  Waiting for them to cool off does feel like torture, hence the name. They are the most wonderfully buttery, thin, crisp cookies on the planet.  They come in little bags, boxes, or tins, but the best treat is a free punition that awaits each customer by the cash register.

I love their special occasion-shaped punition cookies, like stars or reindeer for Christmas, Eiffel Tower for Bastille Day, hearts for Mother's Day or Valentine's Day.

I usually come home with a couple of bags of punition and promptly stash one in the freezer.

I liked how they packaged my apple tart.

The Poilane apple tart - chunks of apple, flaky pastry dough, and a sprinkling of brown sugar, simple yet perfect.

I also love their flan, which is a deliciously eggy, sweet, and rich custard in a pastry crust, and since my husband is not a fan of the consistency of a flan, I have it all to myself.  

These are some of the Poilane goodies I have gotten over the years.  This very sharp bread knife, I learned that the hard way, is spectacular for cutting our breads and baguettes.

Here is my croque-monsieur on a proper slice of Poilane bread at La Palette.

Poilane
8 rue du Cherche-Midi
Monday - Saturday - 7am - 8:30pm

Joanna