Something French is happening at Yonge and St. Clair. The Artisan Baker opened on Yonge Street in December and brought a beautiful selection of French pastries with it. Calling it a bakery/café, co-owner Bruno Beaudoin comes up with the kitchen’s creations and menus. He worked in kitchens all over France for 14 years and managed several hotels when he made the move to Canada.
The tartine ($13.95) is described on the menu as an “oven baked open face” sandwich. A closed sandwich with bubbling melted Swiss cheese on top arrives in front of me. I whole-heartedly welcome additional bread, carbs, and cheese, so I will never complain. The tartine has undergone a makeover that the menu has yet to reflect. Inside the sandwich are the wild mushrooms, shallots, and melted brie that I ordered. A béchamel sauce just adds to the Frenchness.
The tartines, soups, and quiches sell quickly at the Artisan Bakery and so do the pastries, including croissants, danishes, and tarts. The croissants ($2.25) are made with a 200-year-old recipe using Canadian butter that has 88-percent butterfat. Commercial butters typically contain less than 80-percent and bakers know that the higher the butterfat; the better the butter. The result is a very light, tender and flaky pastry. I’m told I can’t buy this butter at the grocery store. I conclude this is because I am a commoner.
The traditionally French Religieuse (“nun”) pastries look like little snowmen cream puffs with a small one sitting on top of a larger one. If you like a little sweetness with your croissants, The Artisan Baker has chocolate twists ($3.25) made of croissant dough, dark chocolate, pastry cream, and French vanilla. The pastry case houses standard French pastries…and bread pudding.
“My bread budding doesn’t have any bread in it,” Bruno announces. Err…what?
His bread pudding is made of chocolates twists, maple syrup, pastry cream, vanilla, eggs, and milk. It’s essentially a bread pudding made of chocolate croissants and probably one of the best inventions in the world.
Follow The Artisan Baker on Twitter: @ArtisanBakerTO
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