Pascal Tepper, Meilleur ouvrier de France by Pascal TepperSociété nationale des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France
The professions in artisanal cuisine and jobs in the culinary and catering arts are the most well-represented categories among the MOF. MOF stands for Meilleurs Ouvriers de France, a prestigious title awarded to France's best craftspeople. Among the holders of this title, you can also find a number of cooks, pastry chefs,
butchers, sommeliers, cheesemongers, chocolate-makers, ice cream makers… and bakers. And some of these MOFs are well-known around the world for sporting their iconic red, white, and blue collars, like Paul Bocuse, Gaston Lenôtre, and Joël Robuchon.
Anis BouabsaSociété nationale des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France
Anis Bouabsa
42 years old
He started baking at 15 years old and became MOF in 20224. "It was during the work experience in a bakery I had when I was 15 (All French students undergo a week's work experience in the 9th grade), that I discovered this career option and decided to follow it myself. My passion for the craft has never left me since."<br>
What made you want to become an MOF?
"At trade shows, I would watch MOFs make demonstrations, and they were like living gods. Then, when I was working a summer job with an MOF-Boulanger (Christophe Simon), he noticed my aptitude and said that if I wanted to become an MOF, I could come back and study with him after finishing my Brevet de Maîtrise qualification."
How did you find the training and the competition?
"I worked 'til I dropped! I had a double life of work plus work between the boulangerie and training. It was the only thing on my mind. I'd thrown myself into it completely."
What's changed in your life as a baker?
"When I was younger, my parents didn't approve of my training. My mother saw this manual work as a source of shame. But with this title, I could show her that I've reached the peak of this career, even if I wasn't a doctor."
"When you want to be an MOF, you have to live and breathe dough. You almost become like a loaf yourself just so you can feel what it's feeling and understand it from the inside out."
In your opinion, what's the most important quality in a baguette?
"Any loaf of bread needs to resemble the person who made it. In my opinion, it's a way of expressing oneself. But if we're having a bad day or are in a bad mood, we bakers have the skill needed to make good bread anyway."
Cyrille Van der Stuyft by Cyrille Van der StuyftSociété nationale des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France
Cyrille van der Stuyft
34 years old,
with bakeries in London and New York
What made you want to become an MOF?
"Dad was a baker in Chartres. He died too soon. As a kid, I dreamed of following in his footsteps and of traveling. I wanted to be a worldwide bread missionary."
How did you find the training and the competition?
"It becomes an obsession. You can't think of anything else, even at night. I basically didn't leave the lab for two years. I even let my wife's second pregnancy pass me by. She was carrying my second daughter. Solving any and all problem related to this complex product."
What's changed in your life as a baker?
"Everything. The title is an incredible career boost. I wanted to give back everything I'd learned."
In your opinion, what's the most important quality in a baguette?
"A balance between appearance and taste. It should be high-quality, beautiful, easy to digest, and well baked. I get real pleasure from working my dough. It's a hands-on job. I have a sensual relationship with my dough—it's almost a carnal pleasure."
Pascal Tepper, Meilleur ouvrier de France by Pascal TepperSociété nationale des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France
Pascal Tepper
62 years old—43 wonderful years as a baker "I'm still happy to get up at 2:30 every morning"
What made you want to become an MOF?
"I'm the fourth in a line of bakers, and my son will be the fifth. It may seem ridiculous, but I was enamored with the medal even at a young age, when I would see photos of MOFs in Jours de France magazine. Mom had a subscription, and we would read it at home."
How did you find the training and the competition?"It was just like being an athlete at the Olympics. That's the image that always comes to mind when I think back. It was tough, but you always come out of such experiences having grown as a person."
What's changed in your life as a baker?
"Everything changed. People don't look at you the same way, even though I was still a very down-to-earth person. And then it gave me a lot more discipline in my work."
In your opinion, what's the most important quality in a baguette?
"Crunch and taste. Firstly, during fermentation, I only add a tiny bit of raising agent—0.07 oz (2 g) per kilo plus starter—and give my dough very long rises to bring out the aromas. And I work with a local mill, the Dubois Mill, which is just over 3 miles (5 km) from my boulangerie."
Sylvain Herviaux, Meilleur ouvrier de France by Sylvain HerviauxSociété nationale des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France
Sylvain Herviaux
43 years old - 25 years as a baker,
fourth in a line of bakers
Instructor at the apprenticeship center (CFA) in Ploufragan, Brittany
What made you want to become an MOF?
"My father would take me to the professional trade shows, and I admired the red, white, and blue collars that the MOFs wore. I wanted to be an MOF-boulanger AND an MOF-pâtissier before I was even a baker at all. For my grandfather, it was 'do or die,' with no place for the weak, but he protected me."
How did you find the training and the competition?
"A lot of suffering which turned into happiness in the end. In 2004, my work was better than what I was making in 2011 once I had the title, and yet, I had to take it again. In 2011, I did what the profession expected of me. I was too creative. I didn't want to be JUST a baker, I wanted to be the best baker in all of France."
What's changed in your life as a baker?
"The possibility to guide young people who want to become bakers, to get their full attention and be listened to with enthusiasm as well. And maybe also to leave a legacy."
In your opinion, what's the most important quality in a baguette?
"Freedom of choice is the most important thing. Every step has an impact, but the choice of the base ingredient, flour, is of the utmost importance. I can choose the mill that I work with. There's no such thing as bad flour, but you need to know flour well and that takes a long time."
"Now just by watching bread being kneaded, I can understand the dough's characteristics as if I were inside it. I learned that with an African village that I was teaching. Since I couldn't travel there, I made bread over a long-distance video call."
Vincent Ferniot
