Veronique Mauclerc

Today I went off to the 19th to visit the much revered boulangerie Veronique Mauclerc, noted for her wood-burning oven and fabulous breads.

Veronique Mauclerc

83, rue de Crimée

75019

Metro Laumiére

My nose was pressed so close to the window looking at all the goodies...

I didn't realize I was reading the labels out loud in wonderment...

"Crumble Rhubarbe!

Éclair Chantilly Fraises!

Pamplemousse Pistache!"

A young man passed by laughing.

A woman passed by with her little dog and paid no nevermind...

Enfin I tore myself away from the delicious window and went inside. It's positively dreamy. All the right touches for a traditional old fashioned French boulangerie.

The breads looked exceptional and sounded exceptional.

Pistache-Amandes-noisettes, pain à l'épeautre, au lin, sarrasin aux amandes, seigle raisins..

They serve afternoon tea in the back near where the baking is done on the premises.

It was the tartes that won my heart - the irresistable tarte pamplemousse pistache and a crumble griottes(cherry). Both were not overly sweet, even tart and very fruity. The shortbread crust was too good to leave uneaten as I usually do.

The cover of today's Stylist was graced with a picture of a be-wigged Steven Spielberg, president of the Cannes film jury this year, with the line,

"Et s'il avait été une femme?"

(And if he had been a woman?)

There's been a lot of talk of the paucity of women directors competing in this year's film festival and rightly so.

The same goes even more so in the pastry world. Very few women can break through 'the oven door'. Almost no women get a chance to compete for the highly desirable MOF award. And very few were competing at La Coupe du Monde de la patisserie in Lyon. Veronique Mauclerc's boulangerie is exceptional as is Claire Damon of des Gâteau et du Pain. Both should be supported and are worth going out of your way for. So please visit. You won't be disappointed I promise.

And you'll see interesting shoes on the #5 Metro to Laumiere.

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William Lamagnere - Chef Pâtissier

Jeudi 7 mars William Lamagnere - Chef Pâtissier

Yesterday I had the special treat of visiting chef patissier William Lamagnère in his 'labo' or laboratoire as French patisserie kitchens are referred to. We met at the Mont Blanc tasting. William's Mont Blanc creation was magnifique.

William has been the pastry chef at la Cloiserie des Lilas for 6 years, a divine brasserie I hope to visit soon. Previously he worked at Laduree. 

We were cloistered in a tiny kitchen sou sol(in the cellar. One doesn't want to imagine summers down there with the hot oven/ fore blasting). Here William and his assistant turned out hundreds of desserts for the daily lunch service + gougere as an amuse bouche for starters. This is ganache de noisette

To go on the tartelette au Graduja noir.

Watching William work close up was daunting. When you bite into a supremely delicious dessert you rarely give a thought to its preparation. The stages it went through to reach such perfection.

I don't think I'll ever eat another dessert lightly again. Pastry chefs are artists of precision in the kitchen.

All senses are at work, not just taste, but color, design, scent of course, even architecture is a consideration.

The multiple layering of flavors is key in French pastry. Mostly you're not aware of the  subtlety involved. The finished tartelette au Granduja.

Next up preparation for the Saint-Honore au pamplemousse et baies de goji. Here William cuts the thin leaves of pastry that are the base of this dessert. Or perhaps he's toasting it with his torch or...I lost track and my kitchen French is not up to snuff.

One of Williams tricks and he has many up his sleeve..is to take two flavours of whipped cream (one a special non-acidic Chinoise grapefruit with a touch of goji berries) the other plain cream and put them together into one pastry sleeve.

Out comes a two-sided cream you might not even notice as you're chomping down but the flavours would subltely announce themselves to your tastebuds...

Here a closer view of the two-sided, two-flavoured whipped cream. William was very generous with tastes/goutes in case you're wondering...though there were a number of pots of ganache in the sink I would have loved to have gotten my hands into...

Almost done. The little puffs nesting on top are filled with cream au pamplemousse then dipped lightly into a hot caramel sauce with a touch of pepper (I think..)
Desserts change daily FYI.

Enfin the finished Saint-Honore au pamplemousse adorned with fresh fruit and goji berries.

Simply glorious no? Though not so simple in the creation.

A Big Merci to William Lamagnere for letting me observe yesterday.

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