Peasant bakers in France

Submitted by JeremyCherfas on September 22, 2009 - 12:44pm

I went to a really interesting bread-making course about 10 days ago, and have simply not had time to write it up yet. One thing I did want to share though, was a film we were shown. It is called Les blés d'or, and was made by ADDOCS, a French film-making organization.

The film is about peasant bakers (and the word peasant is used as a badge of pride, with no pejorative undertones) who have rescued several old varieties of wheat and who bake in the traditional manner. The commentary is all in French (although the DVD for sale has other languages, including Italian but not English (yet)). I found it fascinating, especially the sequence that shows the mixing of the dough.

The recipe is very simple: 33 kg of flour, 22 litres (i.e. 22 kg) of water and half a bucket (maybe 5 litres?) of starter. And the entire mass is mixed by hand. It is absolutely glorious to watch, and if you've never seen a baker stretch and fold 55 kg -- more than his own body weight, I'm sure -- of dough, you have a real treat in store.

You can watch the video streaming in reasonable quality from the ADDOCS site. It is the second film down in the list on the right. I hope you enjoy it.

In view of an earlier post I was thrilled to see a loaf made from Touzelle what flash up on screen, albeit very briefly.

Jeremy

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Submitted by SylviaH on September 22, 2009 - 1:04pm.

Thanks, Jeremy! I enjoyed

Thanks, Jeremy! I enjoyed watching the film, especially the dough and firing!

Sylvia

Submitted by shansen10 on September 22, 2009 - 5:50pm.

DVD Les bles d'or

Thank you for sharing this film. it was beautiful to watch bread being made this way - almost a religious experience.

Submitted by misterrios on September 23, 2009 - 5:14am.

In German?

Is it also German? I can't find the info on the website!

Submitted by ehanner on September 23, 2009 - 5:15am.

Great video!

Thank you for sharing this link. There are many good nuggets of wisdom to be found watching him handling the dough. Thanks,

Eric

Submitted by Reuben Morningchilde on September 23, 2009 - 12:28pm.

Thanks

Thanks so much for this link! It was a real eye-opener, and many times I felt transported back to my childhood when my parents dragged me on holidays 'a la ferme' and the farmer was baking bread. Thanks so much.

Submitted by weavershouse on September 24, 2009 - 1:57pm.

That was so good

Thanks for the link. That big mound of dough was a living thing. Thanks.

Submitted by JeremyCherfas on October 4, 2009 - 2:55am.

I'm glad

I'm glad that you all enjoyed the film.

@misterrios, I'm sorry, I don't know whether the film has German subtitles. Try emailing the company. I got a very speedy reply to my enquiry.

Submitted by cranbo on December 6, 2009 - 9:44pm.

wonderful film

amazing film! i don't read/speak any French, it was remarkable to see someone working with dough that way, with no fancy tools and producing a remarkable product.

thanks for sharing!

Submitted by vincenttalleu on December 9, 2009 - 6:00pm.

Amazing film, thank you very

Amazing film, thank you very much for sharing it!

I can't believe people can actually to this for a living this is really great, this guy mixing the dough grows his own wheat and bakes 150Kg of bread everyweek.

Total respect for him! Let's hope more and more people will start doing such an amazing thing!

Thanks again for sharing the video.

Submitted by one.iota on March 22, 2010 - 6:23am.

Wonderful - English transcript somewhere?

I really would love to read a transcript or obtain English subtitles.

Does anyone know if any transcript exists, or would any kind French-speaking soul do us a great favour and provide a translation?

Submitted by JeremyCherfas on March 22, 2010 - 7:52am.

I'm working on an English transcript

but it is very much a "when I have spare time, i.e. almost never" kind of project. So I'd welcome any help.

Jeremy

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