Poilâne: The Secrets of the World-Famous Bread Bakery

by Apollonia Poilâne

Overview

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"In many ways, the good bread we have now in the United States exists thanks to Poilâne. Poilâne bakery and the Poilâne family have revolutionized the way we think about bread, and it is deeply important that we preserve and learn from their legacy."
—Alice Waters, from the foreword

To food lovers the world over, a trip to Paris is not complete without a visit to Poilâne. Ina Garten raves about the bread’s “extraordinary quality.” Martha Stewart says the P in Poilâne stands for “perfect.” For the first time, Poilâne provides detailed instructions so bakers can reproduce its unique “hug-sized” sourdough loaves at home, as well as the bakery’s other much-loved breads and pastries. It tells the story of how Apollonia Poilâne, the third-generation baker and owner, took over the global business at age eighteen and steered it into the future as a Harvard University freshman after her parents were killed in a helicopter crash.
Beyond bread, Apollonia includes recipes for pastries such as the bakery’s exquisite but unfussy tarts and butter cookies. In recipes that use bread as an ingredient, she shows how to make the most from a loaf, from crust to crumb. In still other dishes, she explores the world of grains: rice, corn, barley, oats, and millet. From sunup to sundown, Poilâne traces the hours in a baker’s day, blending narrative, recipes, and Apollonia’s philosophy of bread.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781328810786
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/29/2019
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	310,654
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

APOLLONIA POILANE, the 35-year-old CEO of Poilâne, began life cradled in a crib made from a bread basket. She has expanded the business internationally, and Poilâne now ships to more than 5,000 loaves to forty countries. Poilâne has six bakehouses in Paris, London, and Antwerp.

Editorial Reviews

08/19/2019

Poilâne, a third-generation bread baker, shares solid, accessible recipes from her landmark Parisian bakery. The recipes include a home version of the bakery’s signature sourdough, and Poilâne’s descriptions of processes—how bakers assess temperature without thermometers, head baker Felix’s ability to fashion a loaf in a lightning-fast three seconds—fascinate. But less bread-centric recipes (many from a cafe opened in 1996) feel off-topic; while she offers her father’s quirky yet enticing bread sandwich (“a piece of thin bread, buttered and toasted, sandwiched between two buttered slices of untoasted bread”), she also suggests a farro and green tomato salad and the Peruvian corn drink, chicha morada. Recipes are organized into three sections—morning (bread, croissants, and granola with bread crumbs in place of oats), afternoon (sandwiches, salads, and sweets like ice cream dotted with toasted bread cubes), and evening (experiments such as a “rice bread” made by pressing cooked rice into a pan). Sidebars include a thoughtful essay on a chandelier in the bakery that is a replica of one her father made for Salvador Dalí, and practical instructions for storing bread (freeze individually wrapped slices). Though occasionally this collection veers offtrack, the author’s gentle voice and thoughtful insights beautifully enhance the many outstanding recipes. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"In many ways, the good bread we have now in the United States exists thanks to Poilâne. Poilâne bakery and the Poilâne family have revolutionized the way we think about bread, and it is deeply important that we preserve and learn from their legacy." —Alice Waters, from the foreword "Poilâne... the P stands for Poilâne, but it could also stand for perfect." —Martha Stewart "Apollonia is bread roylaty. This is the book that all of us who care about bread—readers, bakers, bread buyers, bread eaters, and bread appreciators—want to read." —Dorie Greenspan "I will never forget the first time I stepped into Poilâne bakery. It was 1971, and my heart skipped a beat. You open the door off rue du Cherche-Midi and you're home—it's a home where fresh bread and apple starts are just coming out of the oven." —Ina Garten "Apollonia Poilâne is the fierce defender of a magical tradition and also a brave innovator for a new era. And now she has created a book that belongs in the kitchen of every baker (and every eater) who cares about quality, joy, and terroir.” —Seth Godin, author, This is Marketing "More surprising, however, is that this is not a wonky book, written by one master baker for other master bakers. Rather it’s a gentle, user-friendly cookbook that provides recipes which are sometimes utterly, beautifully simple." —The Los Angeles Times —

From the Publisher

10/01/2019

Online customers of the internationally famous French bakery Poilâne can now make similar food at home thanks to the author, who is the bakery's CEO and a third-generation baker profiled in Daniel Leader's Living Bread. In 2002, Poilâne unexpectedly ascended to head the family business so revered for resurrecting artisanal breads. Initially managing it from her Harvard dorm, Poilâne now steers between tradition and modernity, maintaining her family's commitment to craftsmanship while stretching beyond French ingredients and techniques to experiment with different grains, fermentation, vegan, and gluten-free items. Reflecting that balance, this cookbook relates the family story and includes recipes for traditional-style loaves but also has trendsetting recipes made with bread (tartines, granola), salads filled with grains, and fermented drinks similar to those in Poilâne's cafés in France and London. An informative chapter on storing bread describes its stages of freshness and suggests recipes for bread chips and pizzazz-filled croutons made with spirulina or dukkah. The clean design makes recipes for simple sweets (puff pastry, tarts, snack cakes, and cookies) easier to read than those in Eric Kayser's Maison Kayser's French Pastry Workshop. VERDICT Recommended for all artisanal bread lovers, people eating more grains, and some Francophiles, too.—Bonnie Poquette, Milwaukee

Library Journal