Meet baker bruno
...Looking at the breads I just pulled out of this wood-burning bread oven in Alsace...
On a deux vies, et la deuxième commence quand on se rend compte qu'on en a qu'une.
We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.
I haven't always been a baker, but I've always been a maker. An IT engineer by training, I went on to pursue a career in the luxury fashion industry, building and launching the e-commerce boutiques for Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik — and others — living and working in Paris, London, and New York.
That was my first life.
Like many, I took to baking sourdough for myself and my wife during the Covid-19 pandemic. Not only did it keep us supplied in what was (at that time) passable bread, but it gave me an outlet to channel my energy into something tangible and productive while we were stuck at home in our Brooklyn, NY apartment.
Now, a move to Salisbury, NC, and 1000s of bakes later, that outlet has become my occupation.
Vie numéro deux
In many ways, my new métier, as we call it in French, of boulanger — bread baker — has roots in my childhood. My father, after serving two wars in the French Foreign Legion, took a job as a flour deliveryman for Grands Moulins de Strasbourg, an industrial flour milling group in Alsace-Lorraine that supplied the region's boulangeries. This was back before French law reduced the regulatory weight for flour bags. At the time, they could weigh up to 100kg (220 lbs) and he carried them over his shoulder.
My sisters, mother, and I would spend weekends at the mill's warehouse, where my father tended a small garden plot next to the railroad tracks that welcomed freight trains delivering flour. The garden was part of an unused strip of land the regional manager allowed employees to cultivate. Between the vegetables and fruits that I watched my father harvest with his hands, and the breads he would bring home from his favorite bakeries (only the best), I developed a sensitivity to real, nourishing food produced with effort and excellence.
Today, when I make the drive to Graham, North Carolina to pick up our flour from Lindley Mills, I feel a connection with my father and a legacy pushing me forward. He left his native Sardinia for greater opportunity in France. I immigrated to America on the wishes of my wife, but also for the freedoms and opportunities this great country presents.
My aim is to create a new home for the French artisan bread tradition, right here in North Carolina.
my BOULANGERIE TRAINING
Just one year into my baking journey, in 2021, I got the chance to train alongside some of the greatest talent in France. In addition to a sourdough bread course with Fabrice Cottez of Boulangerie Pas à Pas and countless hours of trial and error in my kitchen with YouTube as my guide, these are the experiences that have shaped me as a baker...
An unforgettable (and unforgettably early) morning with the talented maestros at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc bakery in Cap d'Antibes, thanks to master pastry chef Lilian Bonnefoi (not pictured).
Enriching days with Jean-Claude Iltis, MOF (Meilleur Ouvrier de France) in Boulangerie, at his backyard artisan bakery cottage in Wihr-au-Val, Alsace.
Grateful for the chance to be guided by a true craftsman.