Why it belongs in ORBIS
Paris bakery founded in 1932 by Pierre Poilane at 8 Rue du Cherche-Midi in Saint-Germain-des-Pres; still family-run, now led by his granddaughter Apollonia, baking the wood-fired sourdough miche stamped with a P.
Poilane is a Paris bakery founded in 1932 by Pierre Poilane, a native of Normandy, at 8 Rue du Cherche-Midi in the 6th arrondissement. At a time when Paris was moving toward white baguettes, Poilane baked large round sourdough loaves from stoneground, unprocessed flour in wood-fired ovens; each miche is scored with a P. Pierre's son Lionel began taking over the business in 1973 and expanded it internationally. Since Lionel's death in 2002, the bakery has been run by his daughter Apollonia Poilane, continuing the same wood-fired sourdough method across three generations.