Bread and pastries in Tours

Before we head off to Lyon, I’m popping in with a post to show you what one can enjoy for a VERY reasonable cost here in France. When we’re talking the standards of French viennoiserie, you can’t go wrong with your corner boulangerie or pâtisserie for excellent products at a fraction of the cost you would shell out in the US of A.

Remember - I’m not talking here about the highfalutin shops/tea salons on so many high end streets in so many French cities, but rather the “mom and pop” spaces that are literally around ever coin and down every rue.

Freshly baked breads are also a steal. Not only for their artisanal preparations but their flavor, crust and crumb. Picking up baguettes and other breads from a local shop is part of everyday life in France, a custom that we love to latch onto when we’re here.

For me a fresh slice is so delicious right out of hand without anything on it; OR add a schmear of French butter and a dollop of jam; OR top with a slice of delicious cheese (of which we all know there are beaucoup en France). Mmmmmm good!

Steve purchased ALL of above goodies for a total of 8,60 euros (about $9.55 with the current exchange rate). The mix includes un pain au chocolat, un chausson aux pommes, deux cannelés et une miche du pain (what I’d call a medium-ish size loaf). The broken down cost: 1,70 euros each for the pain au chocolat, chausson aux pommes et cannelés and 1,80 euros for the bread. You can’t beat that!

Just to give you a sense, I did some quick price checking specifically for pain au chocolat in Grand Rapids MI and found that two places that I feel are worth buying from (Field & Fire; Nantucket Baking Company) charge $5 (F&F) and $4.50 (Nantucket) for theirs.

A loaf of country French bread at Nantucket is $5.50. Field & Fire sells a levain loaf for $7.50. I realize these aren’t exact comparisons but . . . . just sayin. And to amp things up a bit, I checked out well known San Francisco Tartine Bakery’s prices - a full sized loaf of country bread $14.95; one pain au chocolat $7.25!! On the other coast at Flour Bakery in Boston I didn’t see pain au chocolat on their menu but their croissant is $4.75 and pain au raisin $4.50.

Circling back to West Michigan, even finding chausson aux pommes or cannelés in GR (chez moi perhaps?) is unlikely. I didn’t see either on the above mentioned GR shops’ menus.

At the famous Bordeaux cannelé maker, Baillardran, depending on how many you buy of the typical boxed set, they run about 3 euros each (the more you buy they less they cost).

I hadn’t made cannelés in awhile - below is a batch I made this past Christmas. Although I’m still working on getting the outside nice and darkly caramel-y, they tasted pretty darn good. I’ve always used silicone molds for these but would consider getting reasonably priced metal ones that would help me achieve that almost burnt looking exterior.

Since West Michigan is huge in the apple growing industry, we do see plenty of places offering apple pies and traditional apple turnovers. But if you ever get a chance to try a well crafted chausson aux pommes, go for it. The oh so flaky puff pastry and sautéed caramel-y apple filling is a match made in heaven.

From The French Tarte’s kitchen

We’re looking forward to our upcoming Lyon stay. I’ll be back!

Meanwhile, here’s a very lovely petite jardin we passed on our walk today - nestled right along the sidewalk.

Enjoy spring wherever you are!

Délices à Tours France

Hello from Tours! Steve and I arrived here March 29th and, once the travel fatigue from our trip over the pond lifted, we’ve been out and about. If you’re interested in reading a blow-by-blow account, Steve is posting on his blog daily.

We’re staying in an AirBnB right in town, not far from the Cathédrale Saint Gatien as well as the main drag, rue Nationale. It’s also a very short walk to the banks of le fleuve Loire. And, to make things even more convenient, we’re just a few steps from rue Colbert, a very popular street full of shops and restaurants. Grocery chain Carrefour has become our go to for food and wine staples for our “home'“ kitchen. Not bad.

While we do our best not to indulge too much, we’ve been sampling some of the pastries and breads from neighborhood boulangeries and pâtisseries. Our first trip to Les Halles, the large indoor market here, yielded a loaf of pain intégral (a hearty wholemeal bread), a couple of brioche feuilletée and, of course, deux croissants.

Brioche feuilletée

We also bought a kilo of small-medium sized yellow potatoes (we think they were the Charlotte variety suggested by blog follower C. I.) and a beautiful head of fresh broccoli that Chef Steve turned into delicious meals for us for a few nights. An additional market visit, when more vendors were open, netted us a rotisserie chicken which joined the potatoes and broccoli for a couple of meals.

One day, for an out-of-town mini adventure, we took the train east to Blois to visit the Château de Blois. After our tour there we tucked into a lovely brunch/lunch/tea spot where I had the most delicious quiche Lorraine with the de rigueur salade vert and a glass of Cheverny rosé.

The quiche was baked in puff pastry and the filling oh so tall, light and fluffy - just the way it should be.

On one late morning stroll up rue Scellerie we stopped at La Chocolatière to browse, then returned later to purchase a chocolate éclair (Steve), a slice of flan Parisien (a huge favorite of mine) and a few specialty packaged chocolates.

Just a hint of what you might find inside

Getting ready for Easter

Mr. Steve’s chocolate êclair

Flan Parisien á la vanille

chocolate treats (Foil wrapped eggs compliments of the shop)

That same day we purchased a delicious share-for-lunch-at-home sandwich at Boulangerie de la Scellerie (another suggestion from blog reader C.I.). Filled with chicken, tomato, lettuce, egg and some version of mayo, the bun appeared to be rye, at least on the surface. To our surprise, upon cutting the sandwich in two, the crumb was very dark grey, the texture wonderful and the flavor with a hint of barley malt (?) with a subtle sweetness. So hard to describe.

I thought they may have used a mix of flours to yield the particular shade of the dough, perhaps including buckwheat, rye, wheat?? Puzzled over what went in to making this, we stopped back at the shop later that day and discovered they call it pain au curry noir - no special flour but the addition of a black curry spice mix that gives it the grey color.

An extremely brief online search led to finding several versions of so called black curry powder. Most seem to be made by toasting various whole spices like cumin seed, (black) cardamom pod, coriander seed and grinding them up with ground turmeric, dry mustard and perhaps some cayenne. Probably no cayenne in ours since we didn’t get any heat - just that lovely mellow flavor.

One evening, after an absolutely delicious meal with friends Richard and Pauline at O Sidon, a lovely Lebanese restaurant on rue Colbert, I decided to order the café gourmand. Over our years of traveling in Europe, we’ve come to know and love this particular dessert offering of coffee or tea accompanied by assorted small portioned treats. I opted for tea instead of coffee and enjoyed baklawa (classic pistachio filled flaky pastry), chabiyeh (another feuilletée pastry with honey/orange flavors), namoura/gâteau au semoule (orange scented semolina cake) and mouhalabiyé (a potted rose and orange scented custard). Wow.

Thé gourmand

If that isn’t enough already, here’s one more! Another evening at restaurant Le Laurenty (also on rue Colbert), Pauline and I shared a poached pear creation for dessert that was oh so classically French and oh so deliciously good. Not too sweet with a wonderful melding of flavors and textures, it combined refreshing sorbet atop a bed of crumble, softly textured amandine (simple almond cake) sandwiching diced pears poached to perfection/held together by a light crème fraîche. And check out that dark chocolate ganache swoop! Who could ask for more!

OK. Enough about food. On our various outings to châteaux et vignobles we’re being greeted by spring floral displays, primarily tulips with a few other species tucked in here and there.

Aaahhh spring

I hope to be back with you within the next couple of weeks. On this trip we’re spending blocks of time in several locations, Tours being our first. Next up Lyon. We’ve never been there, but we’re told it’s a foodie heaven. Who knows what we’ll discover.

Ciao for now.