From the Music Industry to a Wood-Fired Bread Oven | Profile of a Traditional Baker

There are many different paths to food and farming. Discover how Eric Lagarrigue left the music industry to become a traditional baker in the Hautes Pyrenees, France.

How long have you been a baker?

I’ve officially been a baker for four years now. Before that, I worked in the music industry. For over a decade, I helped organise concerts and festivals and secured grants for live music events. I also worked as a drummer: nothing made me happier than seeing people dance!

Then, perhaps unsurprisingly, I started having acute hearing problems – damage to my earlobes that caused extreme sensitivity to noise – and I had to stop going to concerts. I still have to wear ear protection, and loud noises are painful; they can leave my ears ringing for days.

After my hearing was damaged, I remained in the industry for three years, but it wasn’t sustainable. For various reasons, I ended up feeling burnt out. Once I had picked up the pieces, I was left wondering: what now?

How did you transition from music to sourdough?

I love being outside, so I considered growing or foraging for herbal medicine. I went to work with a cueilleuse (a gatherer of wild plants) and we collected wild thyme, rosemary, lavender, and more. It was a great experience, but it would have taken a lot of work to make a living this way.

I knew I wanted to work with my hands, not at a desk, and I didn’t want a boss. I wanted to spend time outside and make people happy - like when I saw them laughing and dancing at concerts. 

Then I met my friend Ben, who farms in the valley, and he encouraged me to come and try growing vegetables at the farm. But when I got there, his traditional bread-making amazed me more than anything. I started helping him bake bread in his outdoor oven, and he encouraged me to take it more seriously– letting me use his oven and equipment as I started. But in France, you can’t just decide to sell bread at the click of your fingers. To do this legally, I had to retrain as a baker.

If you want to become a baker in France, you can train in person or online. But you have to complete a practical internship to qualify. The training takes at least six months and up to a few years.

Eric taking loafs out of his traditional oven, which he operates from his friend Ben’s farm - surrounded by biodiverse meadows, farm animals, and forests. Photo courtesy of Florian Roquais. 

What was the training like?

I stumbled upon one of the best training programmes in France. We learned about every possible type of bread and practised cooking in wood-fired ovens as well as electric ones. I must have produced tonnes of bread! For five months, we constantly baked, and then I had to do my internship over two months.

Not only did I get lucky with the training, but I also ended up doing my apprenticeship with an incredible old-school baker. He taught me to do everything by hand, with slow fermentations and wild yeasts – cooking by wood fire and taking no modern shortcuts. 

How’s the work-life balance as a baker? I imagine there are some seriously early mornings!

I have a much better schedule now than when I worked in the music industry. I choose to do two crazy days of baking a week where I give everything I have – and I make enough money to survive and take the rest of my time off (after a massive day of sleep after baking days!)

I sell bread on a Wednesday at the village market and a Tuesday at the AMAP* depot. And when I see the smiling faces of my customers, I get that same kick that I did when people danced to my music

*AMAP stands for "An Association for the Maintenance of Peasant Agriculture". Across France, these organisations help connect peasant farmers with their local communities - for example, by providing a volunteer-run hub for them to sell their food and getting local volunteers onto the farm to help with the harvest. (In France, “peasant” is not an insult. It means a person who works with the land to produce food and is associated with being skilful, knowledgeable, and respectful of the land.) You can find your local AMAP here.

Eric sells his bread at a village market and a AMAP depot, enjoying the joy that it brings to his customers and the community. Photo courtesy of Florian Roquais. 

What kind of bread do you bake and sell today?

I do everything by hand, using traditional methods and wild yeasts. I use the best local flour you can find – much more expensive than the classic flour bakers use - but it’s worth it. The flour I use is made from ancient grain varieties and ground in a traditional windmill powered by water. I do all the kneading by hand and even cut the wood for the wood burner myself. 

It’s an adapted wood burner, with the fire in a separate compartment from the bread, so I can use much more sustainable fuel like scrap wood without any risk to the consumer.

I have one particular loaf that contains 25 different varieties of ancient grain, all grown in the same field. These old varieties, grown together, are resilient to pests and diseases. And if one year is particularly dry or wet, it doesn’t matter if some grains don’t grow well because there are plenty of others to fill the gap - each thriving in their own conditions. Plus, if you grow them all in the same field, you can just harvest and mill them without annoying yourself trying to grow them separately and then mix 25 types of flour!

Find out more about the benefits of polyculture

Eric's bread is made using a mixture of grains, meaning he is never overly exposed when there is a poor harvest of any particular variety. Photo courtesy of Florian Roquais. 

Why do you source flour from a traditional windmill?

The slow and gentle traditional windmill prevents the flour from getting too hot to retain more beneficial nutrients. It also means the mill can only process so much flour in a day – which is one of the reasons the flour costs more – but the price is more than fair for the quality. The man managing the windmill is the fifth generation of his family to do it, and he has an extraordinary savoir-faire. 

These ancient grains that the old windmill deals with also have considerably less gluten than modern varieties. Modern bakers won’t touch them because you can’t use aggressive machinery with the old grains. Because of the lower gluten content, you have to work this flour by hand, or the bread falls to pieces. 

How else does your bread differ from the typical bread on the market today?

In France, we still like good bread. And yet, we can see the processes - even in French boulangeries - becoming increasingly industrial. It’s becoming normal to use additives and flavourings, and less common to work the bread by hand. These days, you can find up to 60 additives in commonly used flour, and the grains we use have been selected to be overly rich in gluten. Some bakers even add more gluten as an additive, so you can get away with rougher machinery!

Using wild yeast is also a game changer. I bake the bread on Ben’s farm, surrounded by biodiverse meadows, farm animals, and forests. One day, I fermented my sourdough starter in a different location, and the bread was different. When I prepare it on the farm, you can close your eyes and almost taste the surrounding wildflowers and a hint of honey in the dough. It’s all about the wild yeasts that are in the environment.

How to spot the real deal? Many countries don’t have clear regulations for labelling sourdough. Genuine sourdough will only contain flour, water, salt and natural yeast. Natural yeast could also be listed as “sourdough starter” or “naturally leavened”.

Does this make your bread very expensive? How can ordinary people eat this kind of food?

I do everything I can to make my bread affordable. I never skimp on ingredients, but I save costs in other places – Ben gives me a great rate on the oven, and I sell right next to it, so I don’t have to pay for much fuel. And I try to keep my bread as accessible as possible, considerably cheaper than you would get in a speciality baker, but certainly more than you would buy in a chain boulangerie.

Most of my clients are not particularly wealthy - it comes down to priorities, and the kind of people buying my bread want high-quality food produced on their doorstep - even if they don’t earn more than minimum wage.

If you want to start baking sourdough, you can either buy the starter (natural yeast) online or make one at home. Sourdough takes time and patience to master - but you can always try some simple sourdough pancakes to get started.