15 Jan

We looked out for a bakery on the way to the McArthur Glen factory outlets. We stopped by the first one we saw and I was tossing up between baguette Finlandaise (€1.07) and baguette Régal (€1.30). I didn’t know what they were and simply picked the Finlandaise. In hindsight, maybe I should have gone for the more expensive Régal. It seemed like the Finlandaise just had poppy seeds in it. Dad got a Nepolian or something. It was a folded pastry that turned out to have some sort...

11:31 / Bread / Dessert/Sweets / France / Troyes
14 Jan

From Eric Febvre I bought a giant palmier (€1.45) and a gougère (€2.20). Everyone was buying baguettes, but I didn’t feel like eating one. I still really want to try corn bread but am running out of opportunities to do so. The palmier was the best one of the holiday because the pastry was still layer-y and light and also not overloaded with sugar. In fact, it wasn’t even that sweet. The gougère was also nice - not as good as Jacques Reymond’s, but they also weren’t warm. [gallery...

13:28 / Bread / Dijon / Eric Febvre / France
13 Jan

There was a very small bakery/patisserie called with a queue, called Boulangerie du Palais, so we peeked in to see what they were selling. They had baguettes, pizza, bread and viennoiseries. The most popular item was a brioche aux praline, which was a large brioche bun smothered in a bright pink, presumably sweet, coating. They also had long, rectangular puff pastries filled with the same coloured syrup and almonds. Mum bought a ham, cheese and gherkin baguette to share with dad. She didn’t check the price before buying...

11:18 / Boulangerie du Palais / Bread / France / Lyon
11 Jan

Apt, which was 10km away, to see what was there. There wasn’t much to see but we did pick up something to eat from Banette. Mum and dad shared a veggie pizza (€2.20) and I was tossing up between an olive fougasse, corn bread (€2.50) or ‘mediéval’ bread (€2.50). I noticed that they sold the Provencal miel et amandes as well. In the end I went for the medieval, which has pieces of walnuts and apple and uses chestnut and wheat flour. There wasn’t much walnut in the...

16:14 / Apt / Banette / Bread / France / Italian
10 Jan

We were in Carpentras to have a look at their Friday morning market, which had been set up all over city. I bought some organic quinoa bread (€2.90). It was quite dense and heavy. Mum didn’t like it because the sourdough taste was very strong. There wasn’t actually much quinoa in it – maybe 1-2 grains every 2cm3. I think it would be nice toasted though, and it’s a nice munching bread. The quinoa grains (when you find them) give it an occasional flavour pop. Later we passed a...

11:11 / Bread / Carpentras / France
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