An Artisan Bakery – ‘The Wee Boulangerie’ • Foodie Explorers

A delightful small artisan bakery with a big heart, situated in the busy Newington area of Edinburgh – a neighbourhood full of small independent businesses. Being close to the Meadows it attracts university students, long- term residents and young families.

The “Wee Boulangerie” is a true local artisan bakery. Their bread is produced daily by 2 very passionate skilled bakers in the small rear area of the bakery. They make bread slowly, gently, and with traditional methods from France, Scotland, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy and beyond, patiently fermenting the doughs, sometimes over days, to bring out different flavours and marvellous nutritional and conservation properties. It is a delight to enter the shop and soak up the atmosphere with the wonderful experience of the smell of warm, freshly-baked bread.

It’s a truly self-contained, independent baker. They turn their croissants and shape their cinnamon buns. They roast their vegetables and they make their our own tomato sauce for their Fougasses and Pizzettes. Really, all you see in the shop is made there, from scratch, using simple, natural – and healthy – ingredients. Bread-making is an art in itself and starts with the choice of best ingredients: flour, water, salt and ferment sourdough or (very) small quantities of baker’s yeast. Their flours contain no additives or improvers, nor do they add any. The high-extraction (‘wholemeal’) flours are organic and their wholewheat is stoneground, which means it is richer in nutrients since it incorporates the germ of the grains.

For their buns, they use free-range eggs, real butter, and a little sugar and yeast… The process then is to mix the ingredients into the dough, which is done in the gentle, traditional method, as it preserves the taste (at the expense of the volume of their loaves). Next, the dough needs to ferment. They use different fermentations to develop various tastes and textures. The overall benefits of long-fermented bread means that it has better longevity and is much more nutritious and easier to digest! Then, into the oven! Their bread is ‘well-fired’ because the spectrum of colours you see on the crust reflects the spectrum of taste of the loaf. It is not finished yet. Just out of the oven, the bread needs to rest and breathe (the French term is resuer) until it is properly cooled down. From then on, it will continue to evolve.

Check out their bread ranges from a country-style loaf, sourdough (which is so light and airy), rye plus French-style baguettes. Most breads are long-lasting and are ideal for using to make a healthy sandwich, toasted or just used to dip in a good quality olive oil or served with a delicious home-made soup.

Make this your local pit-stop for all your daily bakery needs, especially at this time of year. Choose from delicious breads, fruit tarts, brownies, cinnamon buns and tasty croissants. Engage with the very helpful and knowledgeable staff. They are happy to explain their slow bread-making processes.

The Wee Boulangerie – theweeboulangerie.co.uk
67 Clerk Street
Newington
Edinburgh