Bakery recreates WW1 bread
The Pain du poilu is revived from the past
A boulangerie in a town on the First World War鈥檚 Western Front has recreated loaves eaten by the poilus (鈥榟airies鈥�), the rank and file French soldiers in the war.
The pain du poilu by the Boulangerie Gu茅nard in Sedan is made using old-fashioned sourdough, without modern baker鈥檚 yeast, in a rustic, round shape the bakery says formed part of the rations of the poilu.
Baker Christophe Gu茅nard said: 鈥淚 wanted to find a way to make a sourdough with natural rising agent and found photos of poilus eating bread in the trenches.
鈥淭he dough doesn鈥檛 go into a proofer, we just leave it to rest and then it goes directly into the oven. You can smell the aromas of the war-time bread.鈥�
He added: 鈥淏ack then soldiers requisitioned mills and made it in all sorts of places, in hangers and tents; in the cold and rain.鈥�
In fact, he said, these round miches were only one of the breads on the menu along with black bread, hard biscuits and a bad-tasting one soldiers called pain kaka鈥� but this kind was the most appetising.
鈥淚t was their main food because there wasn鈥檛 a lot of meat, or fruit and vegetables.鈥�
The bakery also ordered a batch of soldiers鈥� musette knapsacks for customers to carry bread home in. It also does mail order.
