Boulangerie Les CoPains

    Our past 10 days at Boulangerie Les CoPains have been fantastic! When I initially booked here with the bakery I hoped that I would learn a few things about bread and maybe even get to knead a dough. My expectations were surpassed as we were involved 100% in the bread making process from start to finish. I really loved that about this bakery, they allowed us to knead, shape and even put bread into the oven and if a baguette came out crooked...they would laugh and call it the artistic piece of the day. I never felt pressured here, or felt nervous to mess something up because of the calm nature here at Boulangerie Les CoPains.

This is quite a different atmosphere in comparison to most kitchens where perfection is the goal and owners are more cautious of letting amateur bakers have a try at products being sold to the public. Eric, Manu, Thierry and Seth were all great teachers, all with very different personalities. Eric was very fun-spirited and would most of the time be dancing or singing where Seth was very precise and quiet. We learned so much about kneading techniques and shaping from everyone, and I think our bread actually turned out quite well. The concept of baking here if very different from any other bakery because if you ask what the recipe is...the answer is 'enough'. That's right, there is no measuring of ingredients or dough temperatures here! Flour is piled into the kneading troughs then 'enough' water is added to make the correct consistency. I was amazed when I first seen this, after making bread at home using exact temperature calculations and amounts. Hearing this you would probably wonder if the bread is consistent or if it even tastes good and the answer is yes. The bread was always consistent and tasted exactly like it would with measurements and calculations. This technique really allowed the bakers to have a feel for the bread rather than just adding in the written measurements. It forces them to use ingredients according to the day and time of the year and have a strong connection with the dough.

    We stayed in a flat above the bakery with one of the bakers, Seth, along with a dog named Baboosh and Houdini the cat.

The warmth of the wood fired oven would be so pleasant in the early mornings along with the smell of bread in the afternoon filling our room. Unlike our last Wwoofing location where meals were prepared for us, we were given money to buy our own food from the local markets to allow us to try different foods that interested us. This worked out great because Seth was so knowledgeable about the local produce and would always have good recommendation for cheeses and vegetables to try. One of my favourite vegetables we tried was an orange squash that is plentiful in this region this time of year. It had a rich, sweet flavour that paired wonderfully with a square of butter.

 Seth also taught us so much about the local varieties of cheeses and even purchased samples for us to try with his own money! It was so nice to be around someone who was knowledgeable about the local area and local products as that is what I love to learn about each place we go. Originally with a background in science and Engineering Seth was naturally very scientific about the bread and was able to answer all of my questions regarding why bread reacts in certain ways and how to make changes.
    Aside from baking bread, there were lots of other experiences we had such as picking apples in the afternoon, participating in bongo drum lessons with Eric, cider farm tours and goat cheese farms! I laughed when Eric first told me he gave drum lessons because it has been something I've wanted to do for a long time and at a bakery was the last place I thought I would have the opportunity to do so! The lesson was very fun especially with Eric dancing and singing while we all tried to keep rhythm. We were very lucky to also have the opportunity to visit a friend of the bakeries' Cider and Calvados farm. Seth gave us a great tour through the old building filled with barrels of aging cider, calvados and a regional specialty called Pommeau.

 The Calvados is aged 5,10 and 15 years and definityl has a bite to it! The cider is aged a minimum of 16 months, although their cider was nearly 6 years old. My personal favourite was the Pommeau. It is a mix of Calvados and apple juice aged in barrels that has a fantastic creamy taste with strong apple notes. It is only made and sold in this particular region making it  an even more special drink that I'm happy to of been able to sample. Processing the apples for ciders and calvados was very back-breaking work in the past and up until 4 years ago this particular farm was still picking all the apples by hand and carrying apple sacs up the stairs on their backs. One man we met in his early sixties at the farm had a cane and a hunched back...evidence of years of hard work on the apple orchards. We had a sampling at the end of our tour of the 5,10 and 15 year old Calvados, the cider and Pommeau. Personally the Calvados was too strong for me, especially the 5 year old bottle, but I appreciate the flavour it had and could see how people do enjoy it. The cider was great as well and unlike ciders I've had before it was not too sweet but more bitter with a strong apple flavor, I really enjoyed it. Then, like I mentioned before, the Pommeau was my favourite. I think I will be purchasing a bottle before we leave this region to take with us.

    The goat farm I already have written about in my last blog, so I won't go into too much detail again. I really appreciated that they arranged for us to have these experiences on other farms, allowing us to see what the region has to offer.
    We also went to the markets on several days to sell bread and see the different vendors. Selling bread was a fun experience...especially since our french is very limited. It was really neat to be on the other side of the table selling the products rather than purchasing. I never though I would be selling bread at a market in France!

Getting up early in the morning to bake bread then selling it fresh to people was wonderful, especially seeing how passionate the customers were about eating organic, well-made bread. It was nice to see that many people are still willing to pay the extra money for quality food that they know is prepared properly without additives and machines. The breads made at Boulangerie Les CoPains included complet (whole grain), demi-complet (around 60% or so whole grain), and a variety of breads made with nuts and seeds. They also make a pain au brioche (natural, raison and chocolate chip) as well as sablee cookies, seasonal fruit tarts, pizzas and petite brioches. Everything tasted great (and yes I made sure to sample EVERYTHING) with my favourites being the sablee and petite brioche.

    Boulangerie Les CoPains was a special place to visit and unfortunately the ten days went by far too fast. Waking up early and working with dough everyday with fantastic people has inspired me to make more breads when I return to Canada. They showed me that bread isn't scary and you shouldn't be afraid to try new things with dough. I feel more confident to make bread now then when I arrived and I have Boulangerie Les CoPain to thank for that.