True : Démarreur de pain doesn't much sound french but would be understandable, maybe even more than levure.

Levure can be bought in shops, Llevain is more difficult ot get and I don't see either why bakeries would sell their own.

Ps : each time I do my own bread, my wife throws it away...


pps : prolems with posting today...

<i>I would like to ask for some of their 200 year old starter. </i>

I doubt that their starter has that much ancestry, as Poîlane was not started until 1922.

PalenQ : I would say that it would be very unlikely that Poilane would sell "their" yeast but that they probably have "some" yesst on sale in their store.
As to decide what's googled French or not, surely you are in a better position to judge than native French speakers !

" Démarreur de pain doesn't much sound french but would be understandable, maybe even more than levure. "

C'est c'là même. Et le savon c'est un démarreur de mousse.......

I think the uniqueness of flavor coming from the proprietary starters came from the San Francisco sourdough culture. I would agree that the starter has less to do with flavor than several other potential factors, including both the ingredients and the methods.

But if you were able to get some levain, you would NOT have the same starter after a few weeks or months at home, unless you had a completely sterile environment. The local yeasts will get into your levain. They will grow just as well or better than the yeasts from Polaine. Eventually, the local yeasts will likely overtake the original ones, so other than the novelty, I'm not sure it'll be a significant improvement over home made levain.

Good luck in any event.

Considering how small the original shop is on Cherche Midi, and considering how much Poilane bread is actually sold in Paris, it is very possible that dough production, even a significant amount of baking, is done elsewhere, at an industrial setting outside of Paris.

They may have ovens at their Cherche Midi store, but Poilane is a big operation and Cherce Midi may be nothing other than a storefront.

J'aime bien le démarreur de mousse !!

Ca sonne bien en Belge, une fois. J'aurais pu (pardon, su) dire un démarreur de pain tu sais !

J'ai appris la différence entre levain et lévure ... hier. Merci fodors pour m'ouvrir à de telles subtilités culinaires.

<i>But if you were able to get some levain, you would NOT have the same starter after a few weeks or months at home, unless you had a completely sterile environment. The local yeasts will get into your levain. </i>

I suppose but if the starting starter is 99.9999% French starter, when you open up the container to feed it then the relatively insignificant wild yeast that makes it into the container will have to compete with the French yeast and I really don't see it ever being able to muscle out the French stuff.

"Considering how small the original shop is on Cherche Midi, and considering how much Poilane bread is actually sold in Paris, it is very possible that dough production, even a significant amount of baking, is done elsewhere, at an industrial setting outside of Paris."

Why, Sasastro, I'm shocked, shocked!

It would be a good idea to bring home some French flour too, so your first few loaves at home will be as French as possible. Protein content in French flour is different from US all-purpose.

If you have your own starter and make your own bread, you may be disappointed in French breads. They usually don't get the long cool rise that really develops flavor.

You can probably find "French flour" in the U.S. In service to the specialty/gourmet/artisan baking industry, multiple varieties of flour are readily available.

The "Manufactory" is at Bièvre. From the website:


The Manufactory

At the beginning of the 1980s, Poilane had two Parisian shops. However, this was not enough to respond to the growing demand. Lionel Poilâne and his wife – an architect and designer – conceived a manufactory. The challenge consisted in creating the same bread in larger proportions. The facility the bakery owner and his wife designed has 24 wood-fire ovens where each baker works as if he were in one of the shops.

I am very satisfied with ordinary pain from boulangeries - can't see anything tasting better than a fresh baguette - plain old regular French baguette like most French always eat - why the quest always for 'the best' - I like what most folks eat - plain simple French breads. Extravagant - pay a bit extra for pain de campagne (sp?) - country style breads AKA sour dough breads..

simple enough to make without 200-year out heritage yeast, etc. - what's so good about yeast's pedigree being 200 years - maybe there is better yeast now than 200 years ago - oldest is not always the best - heirloom bread vs boulangerie common bread - common bread tastes perfect to me.

"J'ai appris la différence entre levain et lévure"
Whathello : You should have asked Mrs WHathello, I am sure she knows !

I think Paris by Mouth includes Poilane in their St. Germain tour. You'd have to pay for a tour, of course, but maybe you can ask them about securing some of the starter for you. It would not hurt to ask since they obviously know the folks there.

http://parisbymouth.com/taste-of-saint-germain/

Good luck!

Thanks for all the amazing feedback everyone. Securing French flour was an excellent idea...I'll have to travel light so I won't have to pay for the extra wt. I see French flour can be ordered through eBay but shipping is astronomical and not worth the expense. Merci beaucuop!

I can appreciate why you want to try to get "le veritable levain de Poilane", and there's certainly no harm in trying.

But I've baked bread most of my life - in 4 different countries, all different kinds of breads - and can tell you that it isn't just a matter of the yeast/starter and the type of flour you use. The type of water you have access to, whether or not you use salt that is heavy in mineral content, and the humidity where you live will also make a huge difference. This is the reason that "New York-style bagels" don't taste the same as the ones that are actually made in New York. You need "le tout ensemble", or you won't end up with the desired result - even if you've got Edith Piaf playing in the background while you're kneading the dough.

If you have room in your checked luggage for a 2kg bag of "farine pour pain/pizza - type 55", you might as well spend about 3 euros, have some fun and make a couple of loaves. Make certain to put the original bag(s) in doubled Ziploc bags, since the flour will expand during the flight and could rupture. You can't carry it into the cabin, unfortunately, and your checked luggage will probably be opened so TSA can verify that you're not carrying explosives. Worst case scenario is that it could be confiscated - and any "levain" probably would be, too.

Frankly, this might really be more trouble than it's worth, especially if you end up with nothing but a nasty note from TSA.

I recommend trying to find a high-gluten bread flour from an ethnic or health food store where you live. If that's not possible, do some more digging on the internet to find people who like to grow and/or grind organic flour - they're a few of them out there who would be happy to mail you a bag or two of bread flour for not much money.

In my experience, Italian flour "tipo 55" is the easiest to find, much less expensive, and gives the same results as the French flour. Whatever you do, don't listen to anyone who tells you to use mineral water in the dough...

If you are an avid bread baker, you might already know about King Arthur flour:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/flours

They have flours with different protein content, and different styles, including a French style.

francophileme, do you know this blog?

http://www.farine-mc.com/

In case it's new to you, the blog's author is a French woman living on the US west coast. She's an avid baker herself and interviews bakers and millers, goes to conferences, and keeps up with developments in grain growing. She's been able to bake with various flours from small local growers.

I went to the blog this afternoon to see what she says about type 55 flour and came across this interview with a baker in Paris. Thought you might be interested. The whole blog is full of detailed information that generous bakers and millers have shared.

http://www.farine-mc.com/2014/11/mee...c-pichard.html

We struggled for years to make a passable imitation of "french bread" but never succeeded until DH brought home some french flour that he'd picked up at a bakery in darkest Somerset and DS tried out the recipe in the bread-maker. Result!

We use powered yeast in the machine and the loaf is excellent.

I can only think that it's the flour [as well as the proportions of the other ingredients] which is the main contributing factor.

if you do manage to get hold of any flour and "starter", I would put the flour in my hold luggage and the starter in the cabin with me, where it won't be subjected to such variations in temperature.

Good luck!