P, P, P, P, P, \u2026<\/p>\n
So many Poil\u00e2ne [say it \u2018pwah-lahn\u2019] breads have been coming out of the ovens since 1932. Still, they are new batches, hot and round, you\u2019ll cherish them and they will comfort you.<\/p>\n
A signature carved on the top of a round sourdough loaf – Poil\u00e2ne miche<\/em> – is made of two parts : the downward base like an \u201cs\u201d seems to look for the roots of the family when the upper part, like an horizontal \u201cc\u201d, looks like a proud crown. Both parts are interwoven. This is the large P-shaped cut on the top of the loaves. The family craft tradition began with Apolllonia\u2019s grandfather and she is continuing it, wearing a blue apron that looks like a severe aged school uniform. Her father, Lionel has been the link between Pierre and Apollonia who presents herself as a baker and an entrepreneur on her Linkedin profile.<\/p>\n Apollonia, a former student at Harvard<\/a> (Boston-USA) 2003 \u2013 2007 who was born in New-York in 1983, is bilingual. She wrote Poil\u00e2ne. The Secrets of the World Famous Bread Bakery. <\/em>Ad\u00e8le Tobin is her translator in French and when Apollonia\u2019s book tour makes a stop at Bi\u00e8vres on Dec. 12, the French translation is the only available in the bookshop Mille Feuilles. She welcomed our questions though the bakery is overwhelmed by a series of events before the Christmas period. A full agenda confirmed by Genevi\u00e8ve Bri\u00e8re-Godfrain, the PR director for more than one Poil\u00e2ne generation.<\/p>\n As a bread, this book has been nurtured too. It\u2019s all about the spirit of this traditional bakery. It reveals all : the never stopped oven, the sourdough that\u2019s goes from mother (starter culture) to dough with an endless movement. The aesthetic and the sound of the bread. Manual work and mixers that have been implemented through generations, the bond between the sisters, the love for the job\u2026 as well as for the croissants (a \u201cbaker\u2019s pastry\u201d). Apollonia proceeds with her fingers breaking one tip off, \u201cthen I gently pull up the top of the exposed edge, unravelling the layers like yarn off a skein and eating it in bits as I go\u201d[1]<\/sup><\/a>* www.thegentlewoman.co.uk<\/a> issue n\u00b0 4 Autumn & Winter 2011<\/span><\/span>