I Went to France for the Carbs

I'm back from a longer-than-usual three-week trip to France: Paris, the Loire Valley, and the Dordogne. A family trip focused on food (of course), art and monuments, and hiking, split between city and country.

The last time I was in France, I attended a week-long panettone and pastry class in the south with travel tacked on the end. French folks really know how to do it, don't they? Late morning rise with pastry and coffee, an easy, casual lunch with rest after, and a long, unhurried dinner. I saw it then, and I wanted to see more—but not just see, actually stay long enough to really live it.

I wanted both sides, too: In the city, I was after the immediacy and access to all the great boulangeries, patisseries, and bistros. In the country, the remoteness of hiking and unexpected canoeing (all of us made it out dry, except my wife, sadly), and the calm and serendipitous discovery that only comes without a strict agenda. (By the end, in the Perigord, I have to be honest, I was kind of tired of all the duck and fries. It's hard to admit, but true.)

Shall we start in Paris?

I'll come right out with it: I love Paris. Work your way outward from the gritty, energetic, and densely packed center and you hit calm, quiet neighborhoods where families go about their day-to-day. It's quite a striking contrast, actually, and there's a case for enjoying the whole spectrum from the inside out.

And we kind of did just that. We split our stay, half in the 2nd arrondissement, half in the 18th. Incredible bakeries on almost every street, and within a few days we'd fallen into a rhythm: morning pastry (often from The French Bastards, more on them soon), late-morning sights, a light lunch, an afternoon rest at the Airbnb, then more sights and a late dinner.

Throw in the Musée d'Orsay (go in the morning, clear a good half day) and Oobatz, the pizzeria that's all the rage right now (get the Margherita, seen below, expect great service), and I could have stayed another week with a long list still to go.

As for the bread... Honestly, it was kind of hit or miss. So many legit small artisan bakeries, and many of the good restaurants served great bread. But a fair number of misses, too. Pale and underbaked to my eye, and at more than a few places, just flavorless and there for "meal support."

I get it, though. I'm a bread snob. I try not to be, but what can I say? I've been at it enough to have an opinion, and it makes finding a great bakery all the better.

Enter The French Bastards. A small chain, clearly, but almost always busy with locals and with a great range of breads from their tourte de seigle (rye bread) to the classic pain de campagne (what I got most days). The pastry, too. Excellent laminated everything, fuel for our morning walks and the odd (or maybe not-so-odd) early-afternoon craving.

I know, I missed many, many bakeries. Trust me, with more time, I'd have tried them all if I could.

From Paris, we drove the 5 or so hours west into the countryside, chateau after chateau in the Loire Valley. Our goal out there was looser, an itinerary mostly cobbled together with "ooh that looks cool" and "hey, what's that, let's stop in."

As you can imagine, given my fastidious baking, I'm a regimented person. But sometimes a no-plan plan is the right way to travel. It often bubbles up unique opportunities, like seeing Monet's gardens, or our 4-hour, 12-kilometer canoe trip down the Dordogne (a must-do, IMO).

Or a late morning bike ride through the grounds of a gorgeous chateau, the kind that gets you to talk, half-seriously, about moving to France for good.

Then it was back to Paris for a few days. A few more bakery visits, a boat ride down the Seine, and then the flight home. All in all an incredible trip—and I think you know it's incredible when you get home and are already trying to figure out how to head back.

But for now, on to a few recipes that fit the French theme here, the same ones I'm mixing up my levain for this weekend.

In this week's newsletter:

• Recipes: Sourdough fougasse, pizza, Hop Miche
• Baking Tip: How can I keep my fougasse from sealing back together?

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My Pizza Cookbook is Coming Soon! All the theory, technique, and know-how to make the best sourdough pizza in your home kitchen. CHECK IT OUT →

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🍞 Sourdough Fougasse

This recipe is just plain fun to make. You can literally cut the dough however you'd like (though I prefer the "ladder" as you see above) and it makes for a delightfully snackable appetizer.

GET FOUGASSE RECIPE →

🍕 Home oven sourdough pizza

You really don't need a fancy oven to make amazing pizza at home. This trusty home pizza recipe has been on the site and was really the inspiration for many of the pizza recipes in my new sourdough pizza cookbook coming out later this year.

Give it a shot, you'll be shocked at the kind of pizza you can make in your home oven!

GET PIZZA RECIPE →

🍞 Hop Miche

I certainly did not have a beer-forward miche (a large, crusty loaf) like this in France, but after having several of their larger loaves, it's rekindled my love for this style of bread (thicker crust! deep flavor! incredible keeping quality!).

Usually, it's one I bake often in the winter when the dark crust and crumb seem to banish the cold; sometimes, a large loaf like this is exactly what one needs, even when it's a bit warm outside.

GET MICHE RECIPE →

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👋🏼 Come Talk Bread

Join the TPL sourdough baking community to get baking help, share your best (and not-so-best) bakes, and get my suite of baking tools, discounts, and access to our private community. If you love bread, you'll love it here!

JOIN NOW →

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💬 Member Discussion of the Week

Two fixes. First, cut clean through to the pan, not a shallow score as you'd do with other dough. Then hook your fingers into each opening and pull them wide, wider than looks right, since they shrink as the dough relaxes. Second, bake hot. 475°F minimum, higher if your oven allows it. You want the crust to set before the slack dough flows back together. If the gaps still close, the dough either sat too long after shaping or the cuts weren't opened enough. Cut, open, and bake!

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🛟 2 Ways I Can Help You Today

• Curious whether you have to have an autolyse with every bake?
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• See how to dial in the hydration of any dough to just the right level (no more sticky dough!).

Until next week, happy baking!