A Small Town with 4 Bakeries

 

My Favorite Bakery



One of the best parts of this experience has been the bakeries.   Sancerre has four and I visit one of them each day.  Some days I visit more than one.  I've even been known to visit the same one twice in one day.  

When I first came, I thought the town only had one bakery, which was located in the main square.  The first couple of days I went there to get croissants and baguettes.  (I quickly found another bakery on the other side of the main square but it only sells desserts.)  One morning my first week, I went to the bakery and freaked out when a sign was on the door saying it was closed until September 8, 2011, which was about two weeks.  I wondered how I could do without bread for two weeks.  While I was stressing, a professor came along and I expressed my concern.  She immediately took me to another bakery and I fell in love.

My Friendly & Competent Bakery (The Rustique Bread is in the Middle)

This bakery is a little further from my apartment but so worth the walk.  Okay, so it is only two blocks further.   They have this baguette called rustique that I adore.  I usually get one per day, but she sometimes runs out and I have to choose another type of bread.  For some reason I don’t understand the bread is unbelievably good the first day but is not at all good the second.  So even if don’t  eat the whole baguette in a day I still need a new one the next day.    

One interesting thing is that none of the bakeries put bread in a sack.  They either wrap a small piece of paper in the middle of the baguette for you to hold on to or give the bread with nothing.  This is true whether you buy one or five baguettes.   At first, I thought this was because I was supposed to bring my own bag.  So I bought this lovely cloth bag (just the right size for two baguttes).  I have since realized that everyone in town just carries the baguettes without any bag at all.   So I’ve failed at yet another attempt at being French. 

I also frequently get desserts from the bakery.  I’ve clearly had more desserts in this four weeks than in any two month period at home.  My favorite bakery has marvelous Paris Brest.  For those of you that don’t know, Brest is a city in France and Paris Brest is the special dessert they developed for the Tour de France.  It is round with a hole in the center like a bicycle wheel.  It has a pastry outside and a praline filling.  I’m not normally much for praline but this is pretty good.  (I’ve had three but then whose counting.)

The bakery without bread has fabulous desserts.  They have several good items but my favorite is a cherry and pistachio tart. (I’ve also had three of these, but I may never be able to get them once I leave so I must take advantage of being here, right?)

Amazing isn’t it, I’ve described two great desserts and neither contain chocolate.  The desserts vary by the day.  Some days there are great chocolate ones and I’ve tried some of these. 

The Tourist Bakery

My original bakery has good bread and desserts.  In addition, it has some bakery type things, such as quiche lorraine, which is good. Their Paris Brest is quite good. It is the only one that actually has an area to sit.  It is a tea salon and thus attracts a crowd of those who want a hot drink with their pastry.  I am told their chocolate eclairs are to die for.  I tried to get one yesterday, but was told they’d have them today.  When I got there today, they were closed so I’m delayed in trying their chocolate éclair.

There is a fourth bakery but I rarely frequent it.  I call the tourist bakery.  (Interesting, isn’t it that I don’t consider myself a tourist.  In this town, a lot of people come for the day, walk around (and look at my building a lot because of the tower behind it) and buy things.  So when they crowd the streets or the café those of us who stay in the town for a period of time find them irritating.)  It has these fabulous looking desserts that are wrapped and more suitable to take with you, hence my view that it is for tourists.  It does have a special Sancerre cake that I will have to try.  It does sell baguettes so in a pinch I visit it. 

Today, my visit is just a little over half over and I am starting to think about how different it will be to come back home.  I think I’ll adjust to most things pretty fast, but I am going to miss the baguettes.  I know there are places in DC to buy really good desserts, but I won’t be able to walk to them whenever my sweet tooth needs a fix.  And they won’t have the variety.  Although Panera has fresh baguettes and they are pretty good, I can’t walk there before breakfast.