4 ms·

This article is really doesn't tell me much about the bread-making process, the people who make it, or what the author actually did while on-site besides touch

by dk1138 9y ago

This article is really doesn't tell me much about the bread-making process, the people who make it, or what the author actually did while on-site besides touch a hunk of dough. Was expecting more, especially from Saveur.

neaden 9y ago
Agreed. It did make me hungry for bread though. I have a friend who is a baker here (in the US) but I imagine it is quite different then working in France. The bakery she works does make bread, but the vast majority of what they sell are different kinds of sweets. I think there is a much lower demand for fresh bread here.
- CocaKoala 9y ago
  I spent some time post-college working as a baker; our primary output was bread (with some cookies, cakes, and brownies etc as well), but the vast majority of our bread was sold to local restaurants. If you're running a bakery that's selling direct to consumers, I can imagine that it would be pretty hard to make ends meet on bread alone. This had the curious result that when I was in Carmel-By-The-Sea a few weeks ago, I went in to what was ostensibly called a "bakery" and tried to buy a baguette, only to be told that they only sold pastries and cookies and didn't make bread at all. I was extraordinarily put out by this.
  - ceratopisan 9y ago
    Selling to restaurants is reliable but low-profit, because you're selling in bulk. Selling direct to consumers has a much better margin. Margins are not high in baking to begin with, so it helps. The direct demand can't be scheduled as easily, though, and baking bread is always at least hours of prep. This is something that is a balance for any bakery - front end and back end operations; I have yet to find someplace that didn't do both.
  - smacktoward 9y ago
    Was it a French bakery, by chance? The French have traditionally distinguished between bakeries that bake breads and rolls (which they call a boulangerie) and bakeries that bake pastries and sweets (a pâtisserie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2tisserie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2tisserie). I dunno how much that distinction still holds in modern France in the era of the supermarket, of course. But it wouldn't be surprising to a see an upmarket French-inspired U.S. bakery using it as a way to signal authenticity.
    - CocaKoala 9y ago
      It was called "Carmel Bakery", so it didn't label itself as either a boulangerie OR a patisserie. It was very misleading.
      - schoen 9y ago
        About 400 miles to the north, there used to be a palindromic bakery (the Yreka Bakery): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California#Palindromes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California#Palindromes

by dk1138 9y ago

neaden 9y ago

Agreed. It did make me hungry for bread though. I have a friend who is a baker here (in the US) but I imagine it is quite different then working in France. The bakery she works does make bread, but the vast majority of what they sell are different kinds of sweets. I think there is a much lower demand for fresh bread here.

CocaKoala 9y ago
I spent some time post-college working as a baker; our primary output was bread (with some cookies, cakes, and brownies etc as well), but the vast majority of our bread was sold to local restaurants. If you're running a bakery that's selling direct to consumers, I can imagine that it would be pretty hard to make ends meet on bread alone. This had the curious result that when I was in Carmel-By-The-Sea a few weeks ago, I went in to what was ostensibly called a "bakery" and tried to buy a baguette, only to be told that they only sold pastries and cookies and didn't make bread at all. I was extraordinarily put out by this.
- ceratopisan 9y ago
  Selling to restaurants is reliable but low-profit, because you're selling in bulk. Selling direct to consumers has a much better margin. Margins are not high in baking to begin with, so it helps. The direct demand can't be scheduled as easily, though, and baking bread is always at least hours of prep. This is something that is a balance for any bakery - front end and back end operations; I have yet to find someplace that didn't do both.
- smacktoward 9y ago
  Was it a French bakery, by chance? The French have traditionally distinguished between bakeries that bake breads and rolls (which they call a boulangerie) and bakeries that bake pastries and sweets (a pâtisserie: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2tisserie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A2tisserie). I dunno how much that distinction still holds in modern France in the era of the supermarket, of course. But it wouldn't be surprising to a see an upmarket French-inspired U.S. bakery using it as a way to signal authenticity.
  - CocaKoala 9y ago
    It was called "Carmel Bakery", so it didn't label itself as either a boulangerie OR a patisserie. It was very misleading.
    - schoen 9y ago
      About 400 miles to the north, there used to be a palindromic bakery (the Yreka Bakery): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California#Palindromes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California#Palindromes