Forget Atkins - French Artisan Bread is way worth it...

French Bread, a dying art, but still if you search you will find great bread makers. It's sad that even in France, many of the traditional pattiseries do croissants with a mix of margarine and butter - YUCK! and I didn't have much luck finding an outstanding butter croissant either until we got to Paris, However - the breads from this market were fantastic.

A wide range of flavors and textures. Another bakery on market day in Vic produced a cornflour bread with sunflower seeds that was outstanding too. A fig bread which I regret not buying and a pointy crusty flute that was one of our regular favorites during the 5 weeks we were there. These breads almost make me want to get over my fear of yeast, but truthfully we enjoy eating them more than the thought of the hot ovens neccessary for that fabulous crust.

the breadman was constantly busy and when we came back two hours later most of these enormous stacks were sold out

pain noix - walnut bread


The taste was even better than it looks - if that's possible. Chewy dense delicious bread the way we rarely get it here in the US. Although my favorite NYC wholesale baker, Tomcat does a great job with french artisan breads and my customers can vouch for that. Can we say olive rosemary picholine rolls?


we also had a loaf of a warm fennel bread from a nearby bakery which did lousy croissants,but the fennel bread which I neglected to geta shot of was round and dense with a strong lovely fennel taste

we'll take one of everything please

look at the airiness of the bread despite the great heavy crust.

the airy holes are a sure sign of the traditional breadmaking techniques...

easter sweetbreads abound - it was easter and the french love their snacks

more like a cake than a bread

we bought a huge chunk of this brioche which was scented with orange and very dense and cakey. We made "french" toast for lunch the next day, along with English bacon and black pudding, which a friend brought along from a local butcher in Yorkshire.

apple croustade with a brioche wrap instead of the strudel pastry

quite different than the croustades that Emiline taught us to make but still oh so delicious and regional speciality of the Gers.