On our food tour a couple weeks ago we went to Poilâne, a popular bakery in Paris with unique bread called pain Poilâne.  The store has been their since the early 1930s.  On our tour we discovered that the bakery is known for the traditional French dark sourdough loaves.  These loaves were very popular during WW II because they kept longer and could be cut into large slices.  Even as the baguette became the popular type of bread they believed in the great product they had.  The bread is still made with stone-ground flour, sea salt, and a wood-fired oven.  You can read more about the history of Poilâne on their website.

These are reasons why I love going on great tours and reading blogs that talk about Paris, I would have never known that I should even try this bread otherwise.  I love baguettes and have never ventured to try anything else but since the tour we’ve fallen in love with this wonderful bread.  It is really nice to have a bread in the apartment and not have to go to the boulangerie if you want a sandwich.  Baguettes don’t last more than 24 hours and there’s no way to use a baguette from yesterday for your sandwich today.  The grocery store that we go to sells Poilâne bread so lately we’ve been picking up a quarter loaf for sandwiches.  A couple of days ago Dusty made us a lovely grilled caprese sandwich with soft mozzarella, fresh tomatoes from the market, and pesto.