Tourteaux Baubeau Club Ambassadeurs 79

Tourteaux Baubeau, Lezay 79 fresh from the oven

Last week, on a cold and foggy morning (and we’ve had more than our fair share of those so far this winter) I set off on an adventure. I like adventures and this one ticked many boxes. It involved food, it was local and it was free. 

Here in the Deux-Sèvres department we have a kind of loyalty card scheme run by the tourist office called Club Ambassadeur 79. The scheme is free to join for residents of the Deux-Sèvres and as well as offering reduced price entry to local attractions they also organise group tours to local producers. I wrote briefly about this scheme when I signed up in 2014, (see here) but last week was the fist time I’d actually got around to using it. As my legs and I know from my cycle ride around the Deux-Sèvres, it is a long department and things that happen in the north are not really on my doorstep.

One of our local specialities is the Tourteau Fromager, a baked cheesecake I wrote about in 2013, (see here) which is traditionally served for celebrations like weddings, christenings and retirements. I was rather excited to see the Ambassadeurs were being offered a tour around the patisserie where they are made, Tourteaux Baubeau, near Lezay and I couldn’t put my name down quick enough.

Mini galette fresh from the oven

Our group, that was mostly made up of retired French couples (yes, I was the only non-French person there) arrived in the morning just as a batch of little galettes came out of the oven and just in time to watch the start of the day’s production of Tourteaux. It was cold and dull outside, but inside it was warm and with a welcoming smell of baking and the seven members of staff didn’t seem at all bothered with us getting in their way. Tasters were of course offered and enjoyed.

The Tourteaux making process

The Tourteau has a pastry base and is filled with a light and airy batter that contains fromage frais, which can be made with goat milk or cow. The first part of the process is separating the eggs, all 350 of them that are required to make just over 200 tourteaux. The actual number will vary as the volume of the beaten egg white varies depending on the external temperature. They have a pretty cool machine that separates the eggs, where the whites fall through the holes leaving the yolks to plop into the basin. Any rogue yolk has to be removed from the whites, which are beaten to soft peaks before being folded into the yolk, flour and sugar batter.

Hand mixing the egg whites into the batter

We were told at the beginning of the tour that the flour, eggs, fromage frais and butter all come from the local area and much of the process is still carried out by hand. They weren’t lying, but I’m not sure any of us were expecting to see the hand (or should I say arm) mixing in of the beaten eggs to the batter.

A delicious slice of tourteau fromager

Once the batter is spooned into the shells they are cooked at 300° for about 20 mins. The volume of egg white in the mix means they rise, but also that they brown very quickly hence the black top. The cooking process is watched very carefully, by shining a torch through the glass door of the oven, but as they looked black very quickly how they knew when they were cooked was a mystery to me. Once done, the oven was switched off and the door was opened allowing a cloud of smoke and smell of burning to escape, but the tourteaux stayed put for four minutes. It wasn’t quite the nice smell of baking we had arrived to, however, don’t be put off by their burned appearance as it hides a delicious, moist, light and airy cake within.

If you live in the Deux-Sèvres and would like more information on the Ambassadors scheme, click here.

This post has been linked to #AllAboutFrance over at the Lou Messugo blog. Click here to read more.

Tourteau Fromager, our local cheesecake

Tourteau cheesecake from Deux Sevres

I will forgive you if you don’t know what I’m talking about when I say ‘tourteau’ as it is one of our very local food specialities and like nothing else I have come across. The Tourteau Fromager is a baked cheesecake that is specific to the areas of Lezay and the Melle district in our tiny southern tip of Deux Sevres. Ed has never been a cheese fan, but right from his first taste (when he was four) he has loved a slice of tourteau so it has become a favourite in our house. It is an almost round, moist sponge (made with fresh goat or cows cheese) in a thin shortcrust pastry shell base. As it is baked the sponge develops an unusual dark (burnt) crust that adds to the flavour. According to our local guidebook it is derived from a very basic cake that was eaten to celebrate country weddings and should be accompanied by a glass of red wine or a cup of coffee (how versatile).

Another interesting snippet I gleaned when looking into the origins of this cheesecake, that is said to be one of only a few traditionally French cheesecakes, is that it’s name was also used as a resistance code word during the Second World War. When Radio Londres, the French language programme broadcast by the BBC from 1940 to 1944, spoke of ‘Tourteau’ it was secretly sending messages to the resistance fighters in the Deux Sevres. 

I have lots of tasty food posts to share with you in the coming weeks (including My Paella) as this is the time of year I am at my busiest in the kitchen - many of these recipes will include courgettes (zucchini) as we grow loads because we love them!