I haven’t seen the issue addressed here but there are many reasons why Poilâne is no longer the top of the bread basket, and I’ll try to tell you why as concisely as possible.
The founder of Poilâne boulangerie was Lionel Poilâne, who died in a helicopter crash with his wife sometime around the mid-2010s. He left what had then become a factory, and yes I think it is in Bièvres, to his 18-year-old daughter Apollonia, who has been at the helm since then. I wasn’t aware that, like a modern Snow White, she was assisted at some point by some of our little animal friends the creepy-crawlies in her task. Reading Onzième’s story reminded me of a good laugh I had a few days ago when I read that one huge insect factory performing for the human food industry (yup) was forced to close, not only because the company wasn’t profitable (who would’ve thunk?) but also because the hygiene conditions were appalling.
There were mentions of rat and mice infestations, but also of various bugs like flies and maggots, food moths, cockroaches and the like. Eww, but the irony of it was delectable. Bugs infesting a bug factory, that really made my day.
Going back to the subject matter, there are two companies named Poilâne and both make similar types of bread. One is the Poilâne of Lionel lineage, and that’s where bugs were a problem. The other one is Poilâne of Max Poilâne, Max being Lionel’s elder brother. Nowadays, you may buy Poilâne bread nearly everywhere, but take a close look at the package: if it says “Poilâne” it is from the Lionel factory; if it says “Max Poilâne”, it is from the Max factory. The two brothers grew up in their father’s boulangerie on rue du Cherche-Midi in the 6th arrondissement (it is still there) and became enemies when Max went away to open his own business (1976) and that, I think, is the Poilâne location in the 15th. Since then there have been two Poilânes, but there is a common belief that the “original” Poilâne bread is made by the Lionel branch. Frankly I have never noticed much of a difference, both have declined from artisan products to industrial products, pretty much like Pierre Hermé or Ladurée, and I have sometimes found that Max was actually a little better.
My own position on the Poilâne topic is that it is one of these numerous French artisan or luxury brands that now rest solely on their reputation and are no longer worth it. I remember the Poilâne bread of my childhood days, and it was awesome. Fragrant, tasty, with a soft, springy texture, and as any sourdough bread should, it kept for a long time. Then something happened and the quality dropped vertiginously. Even when you manage to get a fresh half-miche, the texture is dense, dry and brittle, and each slice becomes hard and rubbery in only a couple of days. This is very unusual for sourdough, so I don’t know what’s at work there.
I’m constantly in search of good bread in my neighborthood, and there’s a couple of decent boulangers (I really like Grégoire, rue Lacépède), but when I have no other choice I grab some Poilâne at a supermarket, but I know that I’ll throw the whole thing away in a couple of days and ragingly rush outside to get a baguette. Indeed many places now bake far better bread than Poilâne.
It should be said, though, that despite the fact that the Poilâne miche leaves a lot to be desired, the pain de mie is very decent, though a tad dense, and there’s also a tiny ball of a pain aux noix which is at least edible as long as it hasn’t sat on the shelf for more than a couple of days.
It is still worth going to the rue du Cherche-Midi location, I’ve been told that the bread is still pretty close to the original version (I haven’t checked lately); at least you can hope to get it fresh. But the real reason to go there is the small apple tartelettes that have been made continously since the 1950s (a few chunks of apple on flaky pastry, the edges of the pastry sloppily folded over the fruit, a sprinkling of brown cane sugar, a few minutes in the oven and voilà, lovely stuff.) And the small sablé biscuits, also very good.
This story was brought to you courtesy of @Ninkat (she’ll understand).
