The baker is not just the baker’s wife

In the Gladines family, there is the grandfather, the father, the uncles, the nephews… and the twins. A line of bakers, and now bakers. Place de la Halle, in Billom (Puy-de-Dôme), a small medieval town about twenty kilometers east of Clermont-Ferrand (5,000 inhabitants and five bakeries), the yellow and orange storefront of the “Au bougnat bread” is a bit outdated. Inside, a no-frills sales area where the good smell of sourdough floats.

It is a source of pride for Jean-François Gladines, 46, including thirty bakers, to see his daughters in turn fall into the flour

Here, we display in large letters on the windows our love of good bread “handmade, not chain”some croissants “out of the oven, not out of the box”. In the baskets, the Bougnat, a large sourdough loaf, a house specialty with a beautiful crispy robe, sits alongside the Billomette, a malted barley pavé, and the traditional baguette. A village bakery where we knead as a family. It is a source of pride for the dad, Jean-François Gladines, 46, including thirty bakers behind him, happy to see ” girls “ in turn fall into the flour, even if it does not “never imposed this profession”which he continues to practice with passion, from Monday to Saturday.

At the sale, Laurine, 22 years old, fine rimmed glasses and outspoken, who, “after having started training in early childhood”, finally branched off “towards a CAP in food sales”. She second Frédérique, his mother, wife of Jean-François. In the bakery, Juliette, her twin, already holds a CAP and a professional certificate in bakery, who is finishing her “complementary” year in bakery pastry in the family shop.

No more women in the kitchen, place in the bakery!

In a white work jacket embroidered with her name, sleeves rolled up over a floral tattoo, Juliette finishes around 1 p.m. a day started at 4:30 a.m.

Like her sister, she tried to get out of the family trajectory by learning the trade of florist. “But I wasn’t totally fulfilled in this way. I started helping my parents in the bakery and I realized that was what I wanted to do,” explains the young apprentice, who accumulates distinctions in the many competitions organized by the profession. A few weeks ago, in Paris, despite her age, she reached the semi-finals of the national competition for the best French traditional baguette.

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