Paris mon amour

paris needs not words

it's that time of the year

this is my kind of happiness

(there's a basket full of them in the kitchen!!)

boulangerie á la ancienne

Most people go to Paris to say hello to Mona Lisa and stare at certain metal tower. I went to Paris to check off number 12 and number 7 ;) But on my list of things to do in Paris was also a visit to a special bakery: La Boulangerie par Véronique Mauclerc near the Buttes-Chaumont park. One of Paris's finest bakers... and she's a woman... which makes me feel very inspired!

This is probably the only bakery in Paris that uses a starter, all natural ingredients and bakes the bread in a wood-fire oven from the early 20th century (one of two that still exist in Paris). The whole bakery dates back to that time and still preserves it's original aspect. 

Unfortunately, Veronique wasn't in when we arrived so I wasn't able to ask about her baking process nor have a closer look at the oven. I guess I'll have to go back to Paris someday to have a talk with her, but next time, I'll make sure she's in. (I wonder if she needs an assistant....)

The bread on display is carefully labeled with the flours used. We did buy different types of bread to taste. The weird thing is that you expect the flavors to be out-of-this-world, but in fact they are so simple and natural! Eating industrial bread for so many years has taken away the real flavors of bread and everyone forgot what bread really tastes like. 

Tartine Bread

After several attempts at baking the basic country bread recipe, I realised something wasn't right because all my loaves were coming out pancake styled and nothing like the beautiful loaves in the book. Until one day the Baker enlightened my path and discovered what I (and everyone else who strickly follows recipes) was going wrong. Recipes are meant to be reinvented! When it comes to artisan bread you really have to understand the bread making process. So the problem was the original recipe has too much water. In this wonderful post, the Baker explains exactly what was going wrong and how to fix it.

After testing out my grandfather's amazing stone oven, I tripled the original recipe, plus the extra amount of flour suggested by the Baker and mixed in almost 400gr of organic seeds. The rest of the process went smoothly... exactly as discribed in the book, though I did give the dough some extra turns. 

I don't know if the secret is in the dough or in the oven, but I was astonished at how fast it baked: 15 minutes! I saw it rise and crisp, right before my eyes. In Lisbon, the baking process took more than an hour.

Nine beautiful and perfect loaves: crispy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. 

In the end, it was a scary feeling because I had just realized that I would be very happy as a bread baker... 

use less

we all have them: useless objects we collect and cherish.

I was never so persistent to the point of sticking to one single object, so I'm not a true collector, maybe just a gatherer.

we are family

My lastest commissioned worked is hanging at her sister's home. It was a special birthday present to remember a special childhood memory. I'm glad to be a part of it. 

Thank you for the post and the fotos!

# 38 make cornbread in my grandpa's stone oven

Broa (cornbread) has always been part of my childhood memories: I remember my grandfather making it, just for us, when we came on holidays to Portugal, as a special treat. Broa hadn't been made on a weekly basis since over 30 years ago, when industrial bakeries took over the bread making tradition. The firewood oven became a deposit for junk and all the wooden utensils were put away.

Being in Viana for the month of August, I was determind to bake broa once again despite everyone opposing me with all sorts of arguments: you can't find cornflour; the oven it's working properly; it takes too long to heat; you don't know how to make it, etc.; etc.

I asked around for cornflour, tested the oven, cleaned out the utensils and convinced my aunt to help me out. The last time she baked broa was in fact over 30 years ago before she moved to Canada and had to make an effort to remember how it was made. 

At local mill I bought cornflour (not the best quality) and the yeast came from a local bakery (the next time I'll use my homemade starter). We couldn't use the maceira, because it wasn't in very good conditions, so instead  we mixed the dough in a large clay bowl used to season chouriços. 

The oven heated very quickly and acelerated the bulk rise process.

Before baking broa, our grandfather would always bake bolinhas: small sized cornbread where he would mark small holes according to our age. So my aunt and I did the same!

These bolinhas are baked before the broa, when the oven is extremely hot and it doesn't require a closed oven door. They bake in about 10 minutes are are best eaten straight out of the oven.   

My aunt shaped the broa herself and tossed each loaf very carefully into the oven which was then sealed with clay to in-hold the heat during the baking.

The loaves were removed from the oven only 1h30 later, distributed between my family that was so thankful for my persistence and, of course, my aunt and I were proud of our delicious accomplishment!

august in Viana

a pirate's meal.

august in Viana

o moinho que já não moe.

a moleira à janela.

august in Viana

traditional family kayak trip down rio neiva