The Crazy Baker in Aix

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?” –  Julie Child

Bread is life…of course, so is wine, cheese, a good piece of meat, some fresh greens, et al.  In America, we seem to be at war with bread.  It is that carrier of carbohydrates that converts to sugar and causes us to be obese and diabetic.  This may be true of the breads, especially white bread, that is manufactured in the USA today.  We use the term ‘manufactured’ because it is not baked with original or ancient grains, that dance, delight and transform with yeast into the staple that kept and nurtured the human race. The bread we get is a science experiment that won a prize for being able to reach its intended market at the lowest cost and with the sweetest taste.

In France, bread is held to higher standard.  To walk in the streets of any city or village in France with bread is natural.  And it is natural to reach into the bag and rip off a hunk and take some nourishment while walking to your destination.  In America, we go thru the drive-thru and purchase a product that was designed to be eaten whilst driving around.

Every city or village in France will have several “boulangeries” –which is a bakery.  Some are bad, some good, and some outstanding.  We found the later in http://farinomanfou.fr/  —  AKA the “crazy flourman.”

Farinoman is the bakery of Benoît Fradette.  He is a Canadian from Nova Scotia- yikes! And he is best described as a Philosopher / Boulangerier. His blog is in french, but Microsoft and Google both have tools to translate a website.  There are a lot of posts, some esoteric and some approachable, like finding that no one wants to date a baker that works crazy hours.

Beniot makes some breads everyday that the shoppe is open and others only on special days.

Here is an article:  http://slowlanetravel.com/archives/2486 about Beniot’s shoppe.

This is our favorite bread. Please don’t let it scare you…or if it does, realize that it is not too late and turn around on the path that you have found yourself.  This is D’Isere et d’Ardache.  It has fig, apple, walnuts and uses wheat, and chestnut flours.  It is only available on Fridays and Saturdays.  This past Saturday was very sad for Lisa and Douglas, they arrived at 2pm and the store was closed and his workers were on their hands and knees cleaning the floor.