Madame Boulange

Aurore Jouis’ village bakery, which seems to be frozen in time from when it was first opened in the 1930s, is as pretty as a picture and celebrates a time when bread was always made well. There, you’ll find original shelving showing off the homemade loaves, a beautiful wooden counter, Art Nouveau lamps and a cash register from 1848… And some delightfully nostalgic and rural flavors that can be savored in the form of Nordic bread, corn bread or loaves made with khorasan, spelt, or buckwheat flour, plus poppy seed and even hazelnut-raisin bread, all of which are organic and extremely nourishing – including the semi-wholewheat “white” bread, which is soft on the inside and shiny on the outside. Not to mention the divine viennoiseries made with Charentes-Poitou butter, like the praline brioche or the enticingly flaky chocolate croissant. // Aya Bouriole

THE HIDDEN GEM: The Pain Madame, a rye sourdough country loaf, an ode to simplicity itself (€2.60).