MUNICH: We have been waiting for that perfect croissant to enjoy in the morning or the crisp baguette or fiselle to eat your cheese at night and all of a sudden I found it in the Bavarian capital of Munich. To tell you the truth, it is even better than the pastries and bread I often buy in my parents’ home town in the south of France, where more and more chain bakeries open their shops to sell bread that is tasteless, full of superficial ingredients and no longer resembles the bread of the good old days.
We met the founder of the DOMPIERRE BOULANGERIE and entrepreneur Thomas Haeberle to have a chat with him and we found out the seven things to know about French pastry, where to buy the best bread and croissants and how to create the perfect French joie de vivre to have your own perfect French moment, if you want every day. J’adore.
ON HOW TO START THE BUSINESS IN MUNICH
It all started by accident when I met a French Baker who stranded in Munich looking for a job while not speaking a word of German. My wife is from Paris and half of my family is French so I heard complaints about the lack of good croissants and French baguette long enough for many years. So I took the chance and have tried to make this work ever since.
WHY IT TASTES SO DELICIOUS
All our baguettes exclusively consist of pure flour, water, sea salt and a little bit of yeast, our pain tradition (Dompierre) just leaven. Most important is the long-term fermentation of the dough, a minimum of 20 hours. At Dompierre we only use pure ingredients of the best quality. No bread mix, no flavour enhancer, no enzyme, etc.
YOUR FAVORITE ITEM IF YOU HAD TO ONLY CHOOSE ONE
Baguette classique with salted butter, Canelés
HOW TO CREATE A JOI DE VIVRE, THE INTERIOR, THE ATMOSPHERE
My personal background is the media business, and visual details were always quite important for me. I like traditional shops with classic interior and try to create a good atmosphere at Dompierre that doesn’t feel fake. It’s a mix of new and old furniture, a combination of colours and quality materials, vintage film stills of favourite movies. Things that reflect a certain feeling, period, genre, etc. and which in the end seem to be recognized as more than just being nice decoration.
GOOD VIBES
Music in shops and restaurants is always an underestimated issue. As kind of a free lance DJ, my wife was responsible for the playlists for a while. Since she is too busy with her yoga studio (classes in French, www.yoga-atelier-muenchen.de), we now have a combination with Radio Nova from the Internet radio most of the time and still our classic playlists sometimes.
THE PERFECT CAFÉ.
We use professional espresso machines like La Marzocco etc. at all locations. However we made many friends with the filtered café we had served in our first shop at Tengstrasse.
WHY YOU MAKE US HAPPY IN THE MORNING
We like what we do because we love good food. Good bread and fresh croissants seem to make people happy, especially early in the morning. Getting up early isn’t that easy for everyone of course… not to forget the bakers who start at 2 a.m.
YOUR FAVORITE BIT OF FRANCE
L’art de vivre, southwest of France.
More information:
DOMPIERRE BOULANGERIE
Tengstraße 31, 80796 Munich
Schellingstrasse 34, 80799 Munich
Hans-Sachs-Strasse 1, 80469 Munich