A Visit To A Bakery in Provence

     In October of 2000 I spent a week sharing the life of a bread baker in Provence while staying with William Maiwald of Bonnieux (on the north side of the Luberon mountains which are the mountains backing up to the French Rivera).  William's bakery and home are about 2 miles (3 km) outside of the medieval hill town of Bonnieux.

     On a typical day we would get up about 3 a.m. and mix and shape the breads.  While the loaves rose we would take another nap (about 4:30-6 a.m.).  The bread was baked from 6 to 7 a.m. and while it was still warm from the oven the bread would be loaded in the white van seen in the photo above and we would be off to a local market to sell the bread.  Every day a different local town would have a market day (similar to what in California is called a farmer's market but with more than just food products).  The photo below shows William set up for business on a Thursday morning in Rousillon.

     William's bakery (named "Boulangerie de la Plaine" as it is on the plain just below Bonnieux) is especially notable for two reasons.  He bakes his bread in a stone oven built in 1806 and which is heated with old grape vines.  In California when old grape vines are torn out they are usually burned in the field.  William's friends in Provence keep their eyes open for vines being torn out and then William asks to take them.  The vines get one more use.

     Every night before he will be baking William lays a fire in the interior of the oven (perhaps 12 ft. x 12 ft. x 18 in. high).  When he arrives to mix the doughs at 3 a.m. he lights the fire--the grape vines burn hot and fast and by 6 a.m. they have turned to ash.  The ash is swept out and the risen loaves are laid directly on the surface where the fire burned (yes, there is a slight layer of gray ash on the bottoms of some of the loaves). 

     The interior of the oven is not vented to the outside:  when the fire is burning in the oven the door to the oven is wide open and smoke pours out.  The chimney is immediately above the outside of the door and the draft is good as long as an outside door or window is open.  If an outside source of air isn't there the bakery fills with smoke.  Unfortunately, a door or window must be open for a draft in winter too and William says it can get cold in the bakery even though there is a fire burning in the oven.

     The two photos below show the fire burning in the oven and William removing bread from the oven.  Notice the soot marks above the door showing where the smoke escapes.

     I asked William why, in 1806, a stone oven was built in the middle of a rural area and not in a town.  He explained that until the French Revolution the peasants were required by the local lord to bake their bread in his oven for a fee (i.e. a tax).  After the revolution some of the peasants got together and built a communal oven, which was privatized 50-60 years after it was built.  The town of Bonnieux nearby has a small Bakery Museum which tells the story of this oven.

     The other notable thing about the Boulangerie de la Plaine is that all the ingredients William uses are organically grown ("biologique" in modern French).  His flour comes from a small mill in Provence (run entirely by a father and son) which mills wheat grown organically by local farmers.  Much more than Americans the Europeans are growingly concerned about technology altering their food--this is seen in the large opposition to genetically modified foods in Europe and the concern is increased by their recent experiences with Mad Cow Disease.