M6 is broadcasting the final phase of
The best bakery in France
this week .
Last February,
20 Minutes
visited the filming of the semi-final of the competition.
“You also have to think about the aftermath.
We engage our credibility.
I'm very careful about that,” says Bruno Cormerais, who has the heavy task of designating the winning store.
One Friday morning in February, an appointment is given to us in the Oise.
For an hour, the country roads shrouded in fog would make the scenery almost ominous.
However, what awaits us at the end of the road is more than pleasant.
In the domain of Montchevreuil is held the semi-final of
The best bakery in France
.
Filming for this last week of broadcast started on Tuesday and the end clap will sound the next day.
“Everything is going very, very well”, exclaims Norbert Tarayre when we arrive on the scene.
We see from the outset that we are on the set of the right show.
Even in the toilets, 25 kg bags of flour are placed on the floor.
At the end of a succession of rooms where all the technical equipment is stored, the estate's orangery opens its doors to us.
There, the four teams still in competition have just finished preparing their dishes.
On the four worktops are baker's pizzas (that is to say capable of undergoing a second cooking, it is important), hot sandwiches and cold sandwiches.
Because he is not afraid, a cameraman flies a drone inside the room.
But quickly, it's almost time for the tasting.
A chef in the ear
The cameras aren't rolling yet, but Bruno Cormerais is already making the rounds.
You can see ratatouille pizzas, shellfish sandwiches or even two-tone burgers.
“We are looking for technique.
The baker took pains, he reflected.
We try to be as objective as possible, we have to disregard our tastes, ”says the man who was crowned Best Bakery Worker in France in 2004.
A few minutes later, silence is requested on set.
The two jurors are preparing to go around the preparations of the candidates who all attend the tasting.
Bruno Cormerais begins to turn the first slice of pizza all over the place.
Behind the scenes, the producer gives them advice via the headset.
“We try to make a bite of each time guys, he dictates.
Show me the share.
Go up a little higher so that we can see the foliation.
Stop a little.
Ok, now we can see Norbert's tasting”.
Obviously, the chef likes his slice of pizza since he finishes it off camera.
It's the turn of the first team's hot sandwich to pass the test of the jury palace.
"I find it very good but it lacks potato", says Norbert not about the tuber but about the pep he would have liked to find in the mouth.
"It's ugly but what's good"
The tasting of each of the pairs lasts ten or even fifteen minutes in real time, a duration which will be considerably reduced during assembly.
"It's ugly, but how good is it," says Norbert, tasting one of the sandwiches from another team.
The two chefs are not stingy with compliments, but also with negative reviews.
At 12:51 p.m. the end of the tasting sounds.
“You were asked for a baker's pizza, I insist on that.
See you right away”, summarizes Bruno Cormerais before disappearing with Nobert.
"We don't show it but behind, behind the scenes, it's hard for us to choose", confides Norbert Tarayre.
“There is nothing worse than making a mistake,” adds Bruno Cormerais.
Until then, we always had the feeling of not having made a mistake.
Because you also have to think about the aftermath.
We engage our credibility.
I'm very careful about that.
»
At 1 p.m., the technical teams set up the cameras outside the orangery.
Below 7°C, waiting becomes difficult for bakers in short sleeves.
Bruno Cormerais, he is adorned with a jacket.
As he leaves, he debriefs with us: "we asked for a baker's pizza", he repeats to us before joining the set.
Bakers look at jurors, jurors look at bakers.
In a silence that only the birds come to break, the tension is felt.
A competition with immediate consequences
Without revealing the results of the final week, the two members of the jury reveal to us later that there were real surprises during the last phase of the competition.
“When they're at home, and when they're here, it's not the same at all.
Here, they are completely lost or panicked, says the Meilleur Ouvrier de France.
They are no longer with their team, there are only two of them, they don't know the oven, the flour... They are destabilized.
»
More than a show,
The best bakery in France
is above all a competition, hence the pressure on the shoulders of the people who participate in it, but also a real showcase.
Many shops advertise that they have been “seen on M6” and count thousands of customers who join the queue to taste their products.
“We have an example, smiles Bruno Cormerais.
The Gauthier house made 50 Paris-Brest a week, it went to 2500.
A little advice for the victorious team whose name we will know this Friday: invest in a choux pastry trainer.
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Bakery
M6
Norbert Tarayre
Television