Baguette tradition
Stone-ground flour, sourdough and a touch of old dough. A thin crust that shatters, a creamy crumb full of large holes.
Baked every hour from 7 am to 6 pm.
Natural sourdough bakery, Caen
Alvéole, sourdough bakery in Caen
From grain to crust, slowly.
Follow the bake01 The grain
Flour with real flavour.
Our wheat grows less than forty kilometres away, between the Caen plain and the Bessin.
The mill grinds it between stones: the germ stays in, and the flour keeps its creamy colour and its hint of hazelnut.
Triticum aestivum, stone-ground T80
02 The starter
Twenty hours of patience.
No added yeast. A sourdough starter fed every day since we opened, flour, water and salt.
The dough rises slowly in the cool overnight. Time opens up the crumb, deepens the flavour and makes the bread easier to digest.
Slow fermentation, 6 °C, 20 hours
03 The oven
Two hundred and fifty degrees for a golden crust.
At dawn, the stone-deck oven heats up. The pale dough tightens, the score opens into an ear, the crust caramelises.
We take the loaves out when the bread sings: tiny cracks that crackle as it cools.
Stone-deck oven, 45 minute bake
04 On the counter
Fresh on the racks this morning.
Croissant
Isigny PDO butter, laminated by hand over three days. Crisp layers, an airy heart, a nutty flavour.
Out of the oven at 7 am and 10 am.
Pain au chocolat
The same dough as the croissant, with two bars of 64 % dark chocolate. Crisp outside, melting inside.
Out of the oven at 7 am and 10 am.
Country sourdough
Wheat and rye sourdough, generously floured, with a thick dark crust. Stays good for four days.
Sold by weight, from 500 g.
Brioche à tête
Free-range eggs from Calvados, butter and a long cold rise. A stringy crumb and a glossy glaze.
At weekends, and on weekdays to order.
