School’s out for summer
Here’s what I’m cooking up next.
The Baking School Diaries is a series about my three months as a student in the Intensive Professional Program in Bread Baking & Viennoiseries at Ferrandi Paris. Bienvenue!
We all converged on the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont the first warm day after classes ended.
Shuqing brought laminated pastries from the French Bastards, and Janice brought coconut madeleines. Gana brought taralli and chorizo butter biscuits, and Marie brought two bottles of chilled white wine. I brought an overstuffed box of financiers from Eric Kayser, makeshift picnic blankets, and “Joyeux Anniversaire!” paper cups and napkins—the only ones available at Monoprix.
Our time as Ferrandi boulangerie students was coming to an end; we were celebrating by stuffing our faces together one last time, watching ducks and their ducklings skim lazily across the water’s surface, and basking in perfect weather alongside exactly the right ratio of picnickers to tulips.
The following day delivered a true high/low experience: five hours of scrubbing the accumulated grime off our lab from floor to ceiling, trailed closely by a Michelin-starred lunch at L’Astrance (capped off by a kitchen tour with chef Pascal Barbot). Afterwards, tipsy off the wine pairings, we walked toward the nearby Trocadéro Metro station, where our jaws were nudged toward the sidewalk by the city’s best full-length view of the Eiffel Tower.
The next morning, Marie and I went on our last run together—one that, fittingly, ended at La Fête du Pain, a celebration of bread—before my second workout: dragging my overstuffed suitcases to Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Happily, I’ll be seeing my Ferrandi friends (and Paris) again soon! I’ve secured return airfare and a “convention de stage en enterprise”—aka my internship contract—which means I’ll be Europe-bound in a few short weeks.
When I first arrived in Paris, my first bakery visit was to Mamiche, a place I’d heard described in breathless superlatives. I sampled their brioche doughnut stuffed with chocolate-hazelnut cream, their transcendent choux vanille and orange blossom brioche, a roulé jambon fromage sprinkled with fresh thyme, and an individual-sized loaf of caramelized “pain perdu,” all in the name of boulangerie student research.
When I return to Paris next month, Mamiche will be my first stop again. Except this time, it’ll be as an intern—a stagiaire—rather than a customer!
Frankly, I was nervous to throw my hat in the ring at such a beloved institution. Apparently, even after 38 years on this planet, I still hadn’t figured out the secret of kicking impostor syndrome to the curb. (If you figure it out, let me know?) But I was inspired by my younger classmates, all of whom burst forth to shoot their shot at every well-regarded spot in town.
Lo and behold, after some painstakingly translated emails and a rainy-day interview with Mamiche’s sweet, dedicated staff, my efforts paid off. And then we sealed the deal in true French fashion: with a flurry of paperwork.
My stateside summer, meanwhile, has flown by.
I’ve successfully adjusted to life in New Mexico, where my boyfriend moved just before my baking school adventure began. (For those wondering: yes, of course we built a second catio here.)
Each weekday morning, I drive to work at Mille’s production kitchen in Santa Fe, through the high desert landscape that earned this place the nickname “Land of Enchantment.” Alongside the rest of a kind, funny, and talented crew, I laminate croissant dough, braid brioche, pipe and decorate eclairs...and wash lots and lots of dishes, which is as much a part of the job as anything else.
On the weekends, I’ve been baking loaf after loaf of high-altitude sourdough bread—Toto, we’re not at sea level anymore!—trying my hand at homemade salsa, hiking the Jemez Mountains, and sampling new-to-me local pleasures like soaking at Ten Thousand Waves.
In the afternoons, more often than not, monsoon season fills the skies with thunderclouds and sheets of rain: the perfect excuse to slow down, finally, and watch the storm roll through.
Between the long commute, workdays spent laboring on my feet, and off-hours exploring my new surroundings, you might have noticed it’s been a quieter-than-usual summer for me on the writing front.
As expected, balancing my commitment to writing with my new baking career has come with a learning curve—one that’s about to become even steeper, since it’ll be conducted in a foreign language!
To honor that learning curve, I’ll be taking a temporary break from Breakfast Club during my bakery internship. Starting on August 10, all paid subscriptions will be put on pause; current paid subscribers won’t be billed during this pause, and each paid subscription “clock” will remain paused, too. (Free subscribers who want to read my Weekend in Paris series: that means now’s the time to upgrade!)
Fortunately, there’s plenty to read—and watch—while I’m away. For those who missed it, here’s a week-by-week recap of my entire baking school adventure, complete with daily vlogs:
After my time abroad wraps up later this year, I’ll be back with plenty of new stories and adventures—ones that, despite not having happened yet, I already know I can’t wait to share with you.
Until then,
Maddie
Breakfast Club is a newsletter about pastries with a side of personal growth, from an ex-financial planner turned baker. If you savored this edition, click the ❤️ (or share with a friend!) to help new readers discover it—and subscribe to get each letter fresh from the oven.
You are amazing, Maddie! 🤗
Congrats Maddie on securing your internship (which just started a few days ago) at Boulangerie Mamiche! Will have to check out this bakery next time I get to Paris. All the best with it! And to echo another here in the Comments section, think many of us are never too old for Imposture Syndrome haha - but hey, they say you don’t conquer fear or doubts through thought, you conquer it through action - which you certainly did!