Par Baked bread in French Bakers ?

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kenny
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Par Baked bread in French Bakers ?

Post by kenny »

Is there any way to determine from the signage outside a baker

if they prepare bread from scratch on the premises

or use Par Baked bread
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

Yes. If it's called a boulangerie it has to make at least the main bread products from scratch. Otherwise it's a "point chaud" or something to that effect. I'm sure that google would give you the fine details. That said, the par-baked bread at my local supermarket is no worse than the bread at three of my four local boulangeries.
Phip2
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Bakery Dodges

Post by Phip2 »

I think that it may be a bit more complicated . I watch a lot of French consumer programmes. One followed an inspector : In one bakery he questioned a very young assistant about cake marked 'maison' . She confirmed that it was made on the premises and she knew this because she saw the cake being made. She showed him where it was made but was unclear about the ingredients used . He asked her show him where the ingredients were stored and which ones were used . She pointed to a large sack . The inspector explained that this was a Ready Mix and to describe the cake as 'maison' the cake must be made on the premises AND from raw ingredients; flour, sugar etc . The poor young girl couldn't grasp the distinction and keep arguing with the inspector that 'maison' was OK because the cake made on the premises . I suspect that most of us, French or British, thought that 'home made/maison' just means made on the premises .

What's this got to do with bread? Well apparently many bakers are buying in Ready Mix Bread . The programme didn't actually say that there was anything illegal about this. The number of bakers making bread from scratch was declining rapidly and some did a bit of both: making a one or two types from scratch and the rest using a mix . The same story goes for pastries , pies and God knows what else . And those unmarked, white, refridgerated, vans are unmarked and deliver very early so that customers don't know that their favourite boulangeries, pâtisseries or boucheries are selling them par cooked, or defrosted or ready mix products . This might explain why bread from many boulangeries and super markets tastes the same.
Sus
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Re: Bakery Dodges

Post by Sus »


martyn94
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Re: Bakery Dodges

Post by martyn94 »

[quote="Phip2"]I think that it may be a bit more complicated . I watch a lot of French consumer programmes. One followed an inspector : In one bakery he questioned a very young assistant about cake marked 'maison' . She confirmed that it was made on the premises and she knew this because she saw the cake being made. She showed him where it was made but was unclear about the ingredients used . He asked her show him where the ingredients were stored and which ones were used . She pointed to a large sack . The inspector explained that this was a Ready Mix and to describe the cake as 'maison' the cake must be made on the premises AND from raw ingredients; flour, sugar etc . The poor young girl couldn't grasp the distinction and keep arguing with the inspector that 'maison' was OK because the cake made on the premises . I suspect that most of us, French or British, thought that 'home made/maison' just means made on the premises .

What's this got to do with bread? Well apparently many bakers are buying in Ready Mix Bread . The programme didn't actually say that there was anything illegal about this. The number of bakers making bread from scratch was declining rapidly and some did a bit of both: making a one or two types from scratch and the rest using a mix . The same story goes for pastries , pies and God knows what else . And those unmarked, white, refridgerated, vans are unmarked and deliver very early so that customers don't know that their favourite boulangeries, pâtisseries or boucheries are selling them par cooked, or defrosted or ready mix products . This might explain why bread from many boulangeries and super markets tastes the same.[/quote]

I would have thought that it's entirely obvious that many loaves are made from prepared mixes: I quite often buy a quite decent pain aux céréales from my local boulanger, of which he must shift maybe ten a day: I don't seriously imagine that he stays up all night mixing in the crunchy bits.

It's basically down to us. Within living memory, boulangers could make a decent living selling maybe 8 bog-standard baguettes a day to a family of five. Nowadays it's quite often a half-baguette for a family of one. In those circs, they need to offer more sorts of stuff, with higher margins (while still churning out the bog-standard baguettes), and there's still only 24 hours in the day.
kenny
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Post by kenny »

Thanks Folks, for all the replies

The reason I asked the question

In one baker in Barcares , I noticed trays of pale looking bread being loaded into ovens , this I assume was par baked , and the bread was being "tanned" onsite

and in another 200metre away , in the background I could see dough being prepared / rolled . there seemed to bit and pieces of floor in the premises, on counters , till etc. I am assuming , this baker was more authentic, bread made on premises
martyn94
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Post by martyn94 »

kenny wrote:Thanks Folks, for all the replies

The reason I asked the question

In one baker in Barcares , I noticed trays of pale looking bread being loaded into ovens , this I assume was par baked , and the bread was being "tanned" onsite

and in another 200metre away , in the background I could see dough being prepared / rolled . there seemed to bit and pieces of floor in the premises, on counters , till etc. I am assuming , this baker was more authentic, bread made on premises
I think this is all well covered above. But "authenticity" is one thing, and decent bread is another. The par-baked "point chaud" variety is never very good, but rarely very bad.
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