francophileme

Hi fellow Francophiles. I am an avid bread baker and bake bread with a sourdough starter which I developed. I will be traveling to Paris in May and one of my stops in Paris will be the famous French bakery on rue Cler, Poilãne. I would like to ask for some of their 200 year old starter. My French is rudimentary. Could I say the following, "s'il vous plait, serait-il possible...levain" shrug and hold up my jar, hah! Thanks everyone.

francophileme

Sorry everyone...I proofed all but the title subject and as usual my iPad decide to print it's version of what I typed. Should read looking for 200 year old sourdough starter in Paris.

StCirq

Sorry, but I seriously doubt anyone at Poîlane will be handing over their trade secret. But to answer your question, you would say "Bonjour, Monsieur/Madame. Est-ce qu'il serait possible d'acheter un peu de pain pré-fermenté/démarreur de pain [depends on exactly what you want]?"

I don't envision this working out particularly well, though.

Christina

I also do not think any bakery is going to give or sell you their starter.

The last thing you have to worry about is that they won't speak English, I imagine.

Sourdough bread starter in French is levain, as I believe you know. so you'd ask if you could buy some levain (the bread later made from it is called pain au levain). This is a simple question any translater could make for you if you know the word for starter.


Just out of curiosity, if they did sell it to you, what would you do with it? How would you store it while traveling, and how would you take it home? I presume you aren't going to get frozen starter (if so, how would you store that), but refrigerated, but what would you do with it?

I think you should just read various recipes and make your own. Bread isn't solely a function of the starter, anyway, Poilane's bread is special for many reasons that you won't have (water, flour, salt, etc, as well as the recipe and the ovens).

fuzzbucket

Actually, lots of us go to our neighborhood bakery to buy active yeast, or some "working dough" (levain), mostly to make pizza. But we are regular customers, which makes the prospect more interesting for the boulanger.

Poilane is run like a tight ship - and there's no Poilane boulangerie on rue Cler.

If you can arrange to take a tour of the boulangerie on rue du Cherche-Midi beforehand, it probably wouldn't hurt to ask.

Sarastro

Yes, Poilane is on Cherche-Midi, not rue Cler. Every time I go there it is full of tourists, some even with guides describing every fascinating detail about the tiny shop and its curios founder. It makes it difficult for those who actually want to buy bread.

You could certainly ask about purchasing <i>levain</i>, you could probably ask in English as this place is overrun with tourists and the staff is certainly able to converse in English.

Just don´t be too disappointed if they tell you no.

NewbE

St. Cirq, do you get pleasure out of telling every poster who comes to ask a question No? I see that here your desire to show off some Googled French got the better of your desire to rain on any and every parade.

Christina, did you even read the OP's post before banging out your required 4-5 paragraphs of pointlessness?

Kudos to the useful answers, and to the notion that it couldn't hurt to ask.

francophileme

Thanks everyone...yes I have found out that several bakeries in Paris will give a customer some levain just for the asking...no charge. I have my own starter at home that I have cultivated but it would be fun to have levain from an ancient bakery in Paris where the culture has been loving tended for 100 plus years. Levain from experience can be stored at room temp or refrigerated and can go quite a long time between feelings if necessary. (0:

CarolA

Sounds like OP knows more about this subject then the "helpful" responses. LOL!

(And even as a non baker I knew that OP could keep the starter alive. It's actually not uncommon to share it and it's not the "trade" secret. The real trick is what the baker does WITH the starter. That is harder to get out of a good baker )

To the OP, I am truly curious. Let us know how it goes.

francophileme

CarolA, you bet!

kerouac

Any bakery in Paris will give (or sell) you yeast if you ask for it. Is this not true in other countries?

kerouac

Anyway, since yeast is a living organism and not just a chemical reaction, this would imply that any yeast that exists has its origins 20,000 or maybe 100,000 years ago (or more). So just because a bakery has existed for 200 years in Paris does not make its yeast more exceptional than any other yeast.

Yes, I do understand the symbolic attraction of getting the yeast from a specific place, but it absolutely does not make it better.

PalenQ

St. Cirq, do you get pleasure out of telling every poster who comes to ask a question No? I see that here your desire to show off some Googled French got the better of your desire to rain on any and every parade.>

I disagree - StCirq gave the perfect reply IMO - and in perfect French (I would think based on past interactions on this point) - why would a cherished bread maker give out 200-year old samples to someone they do not even know nor know for what reason they may really be up to.

An appropriate respond to the OP as I think Christina's was too - realistic - you are the culprit here with mal intentions I think? What help did you give the OP?

Again both responses were right on - why encourage something that you think is not realistic - like the naive American posting recently that she wanted to throw a charity event in Paris though she had no idea of what it involved and the many roadblocks, etc.

Pvoyageuse

Sorey PalenQ, but "pain préfermenté" and "démarreur de pain" don't make much sense in French.

PalenQ

Pvoyageuse - what would you say to the OP - that such a venerable company would give out free their 200-year-old yeast - their claim to fame? I obviously do not speak fluent French but I know StCirq does in most cases - after all she lives in France, talks with locals - definitely not Googled French as the charge was anyway though those arcane terms may not be good.

Bedar

I don't think they'll give it to you. They might think you'd be tempted to call your bread Pain Poilane, a real no-no.

Whathello

St Cirq speaks perfectly fluent french for those who want to know. However I guess StCirq knows about as much as myself about bread.

I would have said levure, anyway.

Whathello

St Cirq speaks perfectly fluent french for those who want to know. However I guess StCirq knows about as much as myself about bread.

I would have said levure, anyway.

Whathello

St Cirq speaks perfectly fluent french for those who want to know. However I guess StCirq knows about as much as myself about bread.

I would have said levure, anyway.

Whathello

However we have :
Levure : industrial one = yeast (same word in french and english as the one found in the beer).
Levain = leaven : it is considered as a living paste that you take from each bread to make the next. It fermantes by itself with oxygen.
Pay attention that you must ask (in French) : Levain NATUREL, if not you can get industrial product (dehydrated Levain).
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