In search of three-star bread

Once our orders for lunch had been taken at L'Auberge Aveyronnaise in Paris's 12th arrondissement and the bottle of 2008 Marcillac poured, Dan Lepard, Dominique Descamps and Jean-Philippe de Tonnac raised their glasses and made a toast. 'To bread!' was their unanimous and passionate cry, reflecting their combined expertise in this staff of life.

And while this restaurant's popularity rests predominantly on its generous servings of dishes from the Aveyron region, famous for Auvrac beef and lashings of pommes de terre Aligot (heavily whipped mashed potato laced with tomme cheese), its location is also important. It is round the corner from L'École de Boulangerie et de Pâtisserie that for the past 80 years has trained France's best bakers and pastry chefs. (Dan Lepard's photograph above shows a student in action.)

It is this anniversary that had brought our table together. Lepard began his career over 20 years ago as a chef before becoming a baker, writer and today a highly regarded consultant on matters baked. He would like everyone in the UK to eat bread on a par with what he sees in the best French bakeries. Earlier that day he had taken me to one of his favourites, Le Pain Naturel opposite the Beauvau covered market in Place d'Aligre, which has just opened a branch in Tokyo. Alongside their normal mouthwatering range, they are currently baking an autumn loaf with chestnuts, hazelnuts and oranges.

Descamps is a quietly spoken Frenchman with excellent English after a year as a teaching assistant in Nottinghamshire 30 years ago. As director of the school, he is not only committed to maintaining its standards but also to ensuring that his students embrace modern technology to bake even better bread. The phrase coined by the French master baker Lionel Poilâne, that his profession must adhere to 'retro innovation', is also his leitmotif.

We had all been brought together by de Tonnac, a former journalist with the Nouvel Observateur. With his tall rangy frame and grey frizzy hair, he would be many people's idea of a French intellectual, and over the past three years – ever since a mid-life career change saw him enroll on a three-month bread-baking course at the school – de Tonnac has devoted his obviously considerable brain power to compiling and editing the Dictionnaire universel du pain, a book that not only takes in all the many technical aspects of this profession but also describes the many different styles of bread the world over.

De Tonnac believes that this is the first time a book of such scope has been written on bread, although wine, that other great French staple, has been analysed in a similar style by many authors, both French and Anglo-Saxon. And although it may be some time before the book is translated into English, it is bound to have a big impact on those who stand to benefit from it most: bread makers around the world, both professional and amateur, chefs and restaurateurs.

Offering customers consistently well made, fresh bread at the beginning of, during and at the end of the meal remains a constant challenge for restaurateurs who does not bake their own.

And it is not just a question of price. The bread basket is invariably the first tangible sign not just of the restaurateur's style but also of the kitchen's potential. Finding the most appropriate supplier is as crucial as finding a receptionist whose bonhomie ensures every customer's speedy return.

The most encouraging fact I heard over lunch came from de Tonnac's investigations into bread making at the top French restaurants. 'I think a lot of these chefs have thought that although they were cooking top-quality food, their bread didn't really have to be to quite the same standard. But over the past year I have noticed a significant improvement. Today there is a lot of three-star bread to match the three-star cooking.'

Lepard, by contrast, is far less optimistic about the best bread ever reaching the tables of many British restaurants. 'Although there is an obvious renaissance in the art of bread making in the UK', he explained, 'there are too many commercial factors militating against us ever attaining a similar standard of excellence to that which exists here. The rents are so high in central London that the bread has to be made too far away and it often has to leave the bakeries at 4 am to avoid the morning congestion. And that certainly isn't the best for any customer coming in to eat at 8 pm. Above all, London doesn't have a school like this.'

Descamps accepted this compliment modestly and added that interest in his school (funded since its inception by Grands Moulin de Paris, a major French milling company) had never been greater, both from the 250 apprentices who pass through every year and from the growing number of adults looking to change career and fulfill their dream of opening their own bakery.

Later that afternoon the names of the 28 young bakers who had been successful in the extremely difficult Meilleur Ouvrier de France exams currently taking place in the school would be announced (another 38 were taking the same exam in Rouen the following week). Judging from the baskets filled with the most appetising rolls, baguettes, couronnes and even the Jewish cholla I had just seen them prepare, the future of French bread making looks bright and secure.

L'Auberge Aveyronnaise, www.aveyron.com

L'École ds Boulangerie et de Pâtisserie, www.ebp-paris.com

Jean-Philippe de Tonnac, Dictionnaire universel du pain, Bouquins Laffont (c €30)

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