Food sacred and rich in symbols, bread is an essential player in historyand even, since its appearance, a social marker and a reliable indicator of the economic and political life of a country.
In France, there is no meal worthy of the name without bread, and if the image of the Frenchman wearing a beret and holding a baguette under his arm is caricatural, it nevertheless expresses our national pride.
Apart from this famous baguette, there is also wholemeal, rye or corn bread, polka, boulot, ficelle, flute, country or sourdough bread, cereal bread or sandwich bread… Regardless of its form, since it is part of our daily lives and must even, according to the Old Testament, be won by the sweat of our brow.
But the bread must essentially the quality of flours and sourdough that compose it, to the know-how of the bakers and, today, for better or for worse, to the logic of profitability.
To make us discover this know-how of the bakers and the different kinds of bread, Nathalie Helal invited Nathaniel Doboin, Adriano Farano, Valentine Cantenot and Dominique Anract.
Nathaniel Doboin is the co-founder and leader of the house chamberlainbaker in Paris, specialist in organic and gluten-free bread.
Adriano Farano is the founder of bakeries Bread Vivoin Paris, also author of the exciting I will not eat that breadpublished by Rouergue.
Valentine Franc is a grain and miller at the Montaquoy Farm in the Gâtinais, in Soisy-sur-École.
Julien Cantenot is a baker and the founder of theWorkshop P1in Paris in the 18th arrondissement.
Dominique Anract is the president of the National Confederation of French Bakery and Bakery-Pastry.
ERRATUM: The bakery The Pompadourlocated in the 16th arrondissement of Paris at 110, rue de la Tour, cited as belonging to Dominique Anract is currently under management.
