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R.I.P. Gérard Rubaud (1941-2018)

Gérard Rubaud

Gérard Rubaud passed away yesterday. He hadn’t been well for a while but he was on the mend. He sounded very upbeat the last time we spoke, which was two weeks ago before I left on my trip.

He hadn’t started production again since he came back from the hospital: he just didn’t have the energy for it yet but he was building a new levain (starter), playing with grains, temperatures and percentages as a musician would play music and he was already dreaming of future fournées (batches.) I know he planned to start small but I can’t remember if  he said thirty or one hundred loaves. Either way it sounded like a huge step on the slow path to recovery.

It wasn’t to be.

Today Gérard’s levain is orphaned. The oven is cold. And the world has lost a great baker. Someone who lived and breathed bread and could follow the baking process in his head from A to Z as a true fan would watch a game on TV. He had almost a symbiotic relationship with dough.

I will never forget the sight of him bent over the bench in his old bakery, his light the only one around in the darkness of Vermont nights. A flicker of his wrist, a cloud of flour, the dull shine of his bench knife and the balls of dough filling up tray after tray waiting to be shaped.

When he was baking he slept in 12-minutes increments. On a wooden bench near the window when he knew a visitor might come. Otherwise right there on the floor in front of his oven. His favorite spot. Don’t ask why 12 minutes, it was one of his pet theories and it worked for him.

We lived on opposite coasts but we were close. I will miss our weekly talks. I will miss his saying: “Formidable! (Never better!)” each time I asked how he was doing. It always made me laugh. Gérard wasn’t one for self-pity, that’s for sure.

Rest in peace, my friend. My only comfort today is knowing that you got your wish: you died in your little home over the bakery and you were spared the anguish of living the last of your days in a faraway place with no mill, no mixer, no dough trough and no wood-fired oven.

I will sorely miss you.

Au revoir, Gérard!

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October 9, 2018 · Filed Under: Artisans, Gérard Rubaud · 19 Comments

Happy holidays to all!

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December 25, 2017 · Filed Under: Uncategorized · 6 Comments

Five years later…

Icy and Sot Walking Alone Stencil

It has been five years since our grandson Noah was killed in the Sandy Hook massacre. Five years. The grief and shock are not letting up. The loss is there, unyielding, massive, like a rock in the middle of a rushing river. Time has been divided ever since into a before and an after.
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December 14, 2017 · Filed Under: Events, Gun violence, Misc. writing · 38 Comments

Boulangerie Baguette et Chocolat in West Austin, Texas

Pain choco

A bit(e) of France in the heart of Texas! There is no better way to describe Baguette et Chocolat. First there is the name of course. Lovely to my ears as, growing up in Paris, I had baguette and chocolate for goûter (afternoon snack) every day when I got home from school. To this day it remains one of my favorite treats (recipe: take a long-ish piece of crisp yet airy baguette, do NOT slice it open, push an elongated bar of dark chocolate (four squares should do it)into the crumb until the whole chocolate is engulfed), then close your eyes and bite. Tell me if that doesn’t beat most pastries any day of the week!) [Read more…]

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November 29, 2017 · Filed Under: Austin, Bakeries, Travel · 2 Comments

Meet the Baker: Kimberley Bell

I have seen plenty of bakeries over the years and as long as they made real bread, I don’t think I have ever forgotten any of them. The thing about bakeries making real bread is that they have a soul. And the soul is what stays with you. Small Food Bakery (SFB) in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, is a case in point.

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October 3, 2017 · Filed Under: Artisans, Bakeries, Travel, UK · 2 Comments

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Hello!

MC-Profile- 2013 - DSC_0934

My name is MC: formerly a translator,  now a serious home baker and a blogger. If you like real bread and love to meet other bakers, you are in the right place. Come on in...

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