The much-praised German bread culture is under threat in an age of consumption-optimised frozen dough pieces. But there is another way: young, dedicated bakers are rediscovering a craft steeped in tradition.

Those who dine at Mauro Colagreco’s celebrated three-Michelin-star restaurant Mirazur in Menton on the Côte d’Azur are served a fragrant, oven-warm bread “based on my Italian grandmother’s recipe”. Alongside it, printed on fine paper, comes a poem: Pablo Neruda’s famous Ode to Bread. Appreciation could hardly go any further.

Excellent bread is also a matter of honour in Parisian three-star restaurants. Praise the fine baguette, the crisp crust, the scent of yeast or the airy crumb at Alain Ducasse, Yannick Alléno or Pierre Gagnaire, and the same names come up again and again. For example, that of cult baker Frédéric Lalos. Or Eric Kayser, who supplies luxury hotels such as Le Meurice and Le Bristol.

Bakers are stars in Paris, where the prize for the city’s best baguette is awarded every year. In 2024, it went to Xavier Netry of Boulangerie Utopie in the 11th arrondissement, who is now allowed to supply Emmanuel Macron’s breakfast table at the Élysée Palace for an entire year. And two-star chef Thierry Marx, who runs his own bakery, La Boulangerie, in the elegant 8th arrondissement and thereby fulfilled a childhood dream, says: “For me, bread is the most important ingredient in French cuisine.”

And what about Germany, a country that takes such pride in its traditional bread culture? Germans eat around 50 kilos of bread per person each year, making them the leaders in Europe.

Customers should be able to watch how their bread is made – from the cult rye bread with fermented pieces of apple to the cinnamon-cardamom buns that sell out in no time, and the full-bodied sourdough baguette.

Yet for many top chefs and private connoisseurs, the small village of Dachsbach in Franconia is considered the mecca of the new bread culture. Here, Arnd Erbel bakes in the twelfth generation and is proud that, for more than 300 years, his family’s sourdough bread has consisted of just three basic ingredients: “flour, water, salt.” His famous Frankenlaibe, large sourdough loaves offered with or without spices, still look as they did 100 years ago.

Whether one buys rolls, croissants or panettone from him – he has banished from his doughs anything that is industrially produced and does not come from the region. His reputation has spread far and wide: an Australian gourmet magazine recommended him as one of its “Top 10 Must-Visit Overseas Bakeries”.

At Bachmair Weissach, too, the decision was made to work with a dedicated baker of the new generation: Christian Philipps is part of the young Bavarian scene and became known above all for his 360°Laib, a traditional sourdough bread. Why 360°? “Already during development, we turned the bread completely around from the ground up and rethought it, in order to devote ourselves in the end to an entirely new kind of bread enjoyment,” says the baker.

The production process takes more than 48 hours. The dough is carefully kneaded and then stretched and folded every 45 minutes. Through the long fermentation, the aromas are able to develop fully, while the natural enzymes in the dough ensure that the starch in the flour is broken down. The result is a bread that not only tastes good, but is also particularly digestible and wholesome.

By midnight, the ovens at Bäckerei Philipps are already hot and the doughs are ready for baking. At five o’clock, the first fragrant loaves leave the bakery in time to reach the breakfast tables. For Philipps, baking bread is the most natural thing in the world; even as a child, he stood in his parents’ bakery. It is especially important to him that everything he processes is produced and delivered with consistent sustainability. Even the wood he burns in his wood-fired oven comes from Bavarian forests.

The most important ingredient, however, is time: “A good sourdough simply needs time.”

Tobias Koch, Executive Chef of Bachmair Weissach, is more than convinced by the quality of Philipps’ breads: “In terms of taste, there is a great deal of complexity and depth. I particularly like the very crisp crust and the fluffy, airy yet wonderfully moist crumb.”

For guests in the parlours of the house, he sends the bread to the table in the evening in a special 220-gram version, oven-warm directly from the kitchen. And at the Gasthaus Altes Bad in Kreuth, he serves it with flavoured butter – sometimes with wild garlic, sometimes with capers, depending on the season.

Together with Christian Philipps, the experienced chef is already working on further varieties of bread for the house. And by the way: it is not only Bachmair Weissach guests who swear by Christian Philipps’ bread made in Bavaria, but also many top chefs. “The bread is world-class,” says Tim Raue of the Berlin restaurant of the same name about Philipps’ 360°Laib.

CHARLOTTE MILLER