Bread making

From the mill to the oven, good bread requires time

so that nature can do its work

The Boulanger de Monge uses modern techniques with great caution, aware of the fact that excessive mechanization could compromise the quality of the bread.

Good bread is first a matter of a slow and brief kneading of all the ingredients, so that the gluten (a protidic substance in the flour) can store carbon dioxide during fermentation.

The Boulanger de Monge then lets the dough rest. This first fermentation in bulk, called pointage, feeds the fermentation so it can give flavor and aroma to the bread.

Cutting the dough by hand preserves the suppleness of the dough.

A pause is then necessary, so that the dough can relax before shaping, which is carried out mechanically for the baguettes, and manually for all other breads.

Placed on couches (linen cloth), the pâtons, or shaped dough, are left to rest at 10°C so that the sourdough can feed off the sugars it contains and so that the entrapped air, which has become carbon dioxide, can develop and raise the dough by forming alveolas throughout.

The baker then “signs” his bread by slashing it with a blade, not only for the resulting beauty but also to ensure that the carbon dioxide can perform its final rising during baking.

Having chosen to avoid a rotating heat oven, which offers uniform cooking but with no character, the Boulanger de Monge uses a hearthstone oven, made from stone from the Vosges mountains, which respects the structure of the bread and ensures its harmonious development.

Four à soles

Placed directly on the hearthstone, the breads explode from the heat, which ensures a last surge for the crumb and favors the caramelization of the crust.

When it comes out of the oven, the bread is still fragile. It needs to rest, a period called “resweating”, until it releases its steam.

Around the clock attention, rigor and precision, high standards and patience: these are key words for the Boulanger de Monge. The bakers, respectful of their live raw materials, flour and sourdough, offer you, ovenload after ovenload, bread at the top of its form.

Did you know that a one-pound loaf requires 6.5 hours of careful work, and a baguette “only” 5.5? 100% organic sourdough breads are, for their part, only baked after 36 hours of preparation.

48, rue de la Clef - 75005 Paris - Horaires d'ouverture 7h à 20h - Fermeture hebdomadaire jeudi - tel 01.47.07.28.19
123, rue Monge - 75005 Paris - Horaires d'ouverture 7h à 20h30 - Fermeture hebdomadaire lundi - tel 01.43.37.54.20
53, rue Montorgueil - 75002 Paris - Horaires d'ouverture 7h-20h30 - Fermeture hebdomadaire lundi - tel 01.42.33.31.05
contact@leboulangerdemonge.com - www.leboulangerdemonge.com