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Francois Poupart wears tiny gold rings in both his ears. Thirty years before body piercing became trendy for men, Poupart had the rings imbedded in his ear lobes. They've been there so long I'd call them old growth ornamentation, associated with another epoch.
In fact, the earrings are the way members of the bakers guild, an organization that's been around as long as Christianity, recognize one another. It takes long years of training and community service to earn membership, as Francois has, in the Compagnonnage du Devoire du Tour de France.
Poupart Bakery, an island of boulangerie in an otherwise ocean of American air bread is one-of-a-kind in Lafayette. Artisan French bread here in southwest Louisiana could become as endangered as ancient Live oaks with uncountable rings, if it weren't for one thing. The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.
Francois Poupart's son, Patrick, schooled in Rouen in the art of baking, has joined in to take on what he sometimes refers to as "my bakery."
That is not to say that Francois and Louise, his wife and partner at Poupart's Bakery are by any means about to retire. It's just the local fear that no matter how eminent or beloved the business, here in America, it's rare that a son will so willingly take up his father's trade.
"I grew up upstairs," Patrick Poupart said, "right over the bakery." The Pouparts in French fashion still live above their business. "I grew up doing this," Patrick Poupart said, his head completely inside the oven inspecting a carpenter's box baked entirely of bread that will be the centerpiece of a St. Joseph's Day altar. "I'm proud to be able to be part of the bakery."
Francois, from Perpignon, in the southwest of France, Louise from the Auvergne, expatriated to Lafayette in 1962 to work for a glorious restaurant called The Normandy. I was 9 years old, eating Francois' flaming Crawfish Americane, taking small bites of my lemon glazed crepes to make them last longer, when I first encountered Francois Poupart. I was so engrossed in my dinner I wasn't even aware of the introduction.
The Pouparts left The Normandy in 1965, "and I would say a week after we left, we opened our bakery," Francois remembered. They began with a pizza oven and $5 in the bank."That was all I had," he said. "We began by making baguettes (the long thin loaves of bread every Frenchman picks up on his way home from work) 16 at a time. That was all that we could fit in the pizza oven. And then we started adding in pastries," Francois said. Croissant, brioche, Danish, cream puffs and éclairs were the earliest offerings. Louise drove the truck, "I was the delivery girl," she said, "We worked 18 hours a day, just the two of us, and that was the best time of our life."
Francois has a few tenants of the ancient bakers trade he lives by. "Butter is the base of pastry. You can make pastry with margarine, but butter has a true flavor that cannot be duplicated." His French bread is made very simply, with flour, yeast, salt and water. "No fat, no sugar," Louise comments. Pain a la ancien an old fashioned baguette, dusty with a flour finish, is fashioned out of unbleached flour and a starter rather than yeast. "I let it proof for a long time since the long fermentation develops the taste," Francois said.
My favorite loaf is a new addition to the country bread repertoire, an Italian bread, called Cibatta. Called Savate in French, the word means the same in both languages---slipper.
"It's a very, very soft dough, it has 70% humidity," Francois said."When you make the loaves you can't fold the dough like you do French bread, you pull it into shape and let it form itself, it's flat and irregular, sort of like an old worn slipper."
The artisan breads are baked in a special oven, called a deck oven, a new addition at Poupart's. The heat comes from below, which causes breads like the Cibatta and sourdough to develop their chewy interiors, perforated with big characteristic holes.
For an impromptu picnic, Poupart's has a few imported cheeses including an unctuous St. Andre, some Italian salami, jars of homemade jams and pickles put up by Louise, and a case filled with pastries for dessert.
The pasties are exquisitely constructed in the highly formal French fashion. Fruit tarts glitter with apricot glaze. Chocolate mousse slices, airy French cheesecake, peach pastries flavored with orange Grand Marnier are all tempting. But right now, as Louisiana strawberries hit the markets, I'd opt for Strawberry Delight, a slice of sweet whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberry filling under a sugar crackle topping.
Poupart Bakery
1902 W. Pinhook Rd.
Lafayette, La. 70508
(337) 232-7921 |
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