Starter I
The stiff starter
Firm, fed on wheat flour. It gives strength to the dough and a very gentle, almost milky acidity. It carries our large country loaves and gives them that supple crumb that holds.
Artisan bakery · 35 avenue de la Gare, Quimper
Bread takes
its time.Sourdough loaves, pastries and breakfast in Quimper — three minutes' walk from the station
An artisan bakery opened in November 2025 by Stéphane Ollivier, for seven years head baker at the Ritz Paris. Large sourdough loaves, sold by weight. Everything is made here, every morning.
Television — 2026
Selected and broadcast on
La Meilleure Boulangerie de France
M6 · 2026
As seen in
- Gault&Millau
- Le Parisien
- Le Télégramme
- ICI Breizh Izel
The bakery
From the Ritz to
avenue de la Gare
Stéphane Ollivier spent seven years as head baker at the Ritz Paris. He learned there what precision costs, what consistency demands, and why shortcuts are never worth it. In November 2025 he opened Le Painséum in Quimper with Élisabeth Rodriguez.
He now trains bakers in France and abroad, and still does every morning what he has got up early for all his life: bread.
Everything in the window is made here, by hand, with nothing bought in ready-made. The breads, the pastries, the brioches, the custard tarts, the sandwiches. Nothing arrives finished from somewhere else.
Stéphane Ollivier & Élisabeth Rodriguez
The whole house
The people behind it
Bakers, pastry chefs, a laminator, counter staff: a team that makes everything on the premises, every morning, at 35 avenue de la Gare.
The bread
Loaves of one to two kilos
The morning country loaves, before they go to the counter. The size is the whole point: the bigger the loaf, the more time the crust has to build.
What we decided
Big loaves,
raised on sourdough
We made a choice you can see from the window: the large loaf. A one- to two-kilo piece does not bake like a baguette. The crust has time to thicken and caramelise, the crumb stays moist and pearly, and the bread keeps for several days — it is often better the next day.
You are not expected to carry a whole one away: everything is sold by the cut, by weight, from a quarter loaf to the whole piece. You take what you need, and it is cut in front of you.
Our breads are raised on natural sourdough, on long fermentations that can run to twenty-four hours. The flour comes from the Minoterie Suire, a family mill certified Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant, which works only quality wheat.
Starter II
The liquid starter
Livelier, faster. It brings a clear acidity, a more open crumb and aromas closer to fermented milk. We use it wherever we want freshness on the palate.
Starter III
The rye starter
The deepest of the three. Earth, hazelnut and toasted cereal, and long keeping. It signs our breads of character, the ones served with cheese or with oysters.
Three living starters, fed every day the way you keep a fire going. That time is what you taste afterwards — and what makes the bread easy to digest.
Worth coming back for
Bread of the month
Every month a different bread takes its place on the shelf at the back of the shop. A flour, a seed or a fermentation we wanted to try — and that may never come back.
That is the reason to come back. This month's loaf is always in the window: ask, and we will tell you what is in it.
La Gourmandise du chocolat
What the cut reveals
A giant baton of chocolate puff pastry. Dozens of layers of dough and AOP butter, turned by hand — this is where a baker's pastry parts company with everything else.
Pastries & brioches
AOP butter,
laminated here, by hand
The classics are there, made properly. And beside them, a few pieces you will not find anywhere else.
The classics
Croissant, pain au chocolat, pain aux raisins
Laminated by hand, with AOP Charentes-Poitou butter — the Montaigu, the one the great laminating houses use — and nothing else. A croissant that flakes, that cracks, and that leaves no grease on your fingers.
Signature
“Un pain, un chocolat”
Our re-reading of the pain au chocolat. The lamination is longer, the chocolate more present, and the shape unapologetic: we make a whole loaf of it.
Signature
La Gourmandise du chocolat
A giant baton of chocolate puff pastry, to share or not. The piece people come for on purpose — and the one they photograph.
With the seasons
Seasonal pastries
They change with the fruit and with our appetites. Turnovers, almond pastries, creations of one month that may not return the next year.
The brioches
Brioche grand-mère
A brioche of the old kind, with a stringy crumb that keeps. It lasts, comes back to the breakfast table several days running, and ends as pain perdu.
The one people talk about
Brioche sold by the slice
In the spirit of a sugar tart: generous, golden, sold by the portion. Probably the hardest thing in the shop to walk past.
The counter
What you will find
when you push the door
The breads
Large loaves raised on sourdough, sold by the cut and by weight: country, wholemeal, rye tourte, einkorn, seeded, buckwheat and the breads of the moment.
The pastries
Croissants, pains au chocolat, pains aux raisins, “Un pain, un chocolat”, La Gourmandise du chocolat and the seasonal creations.
Custard tarts & tarts
The vanilla flan, the pistachio flan and the flan of the moment. And tarts that change with the seasons, according to what the market gives.
Lunch to take away
The timeless ham-and-butter on tradition baguette, the chicken Caesar viennois with salad, the focaccia with Italian ham and burrata — and plenty more. Three minutes from the station: enough to take onto the train.
Makers from here
A few good things
we did not make ourselves
Alongside what we bake, we have chosen to make room for producers from the region. These are people we know, and whose products we use ourselves.
- Honey from Cast, near Châteaulin
- Crêpes, as it should be in Cornouaille
- Goëlann cider, to open with a galette or a good loaf
- Organic eggs from the Ferme de Marine, in Pluguffan — sold in the shop, and the same ones we crack in the bakehouse
Finding us
Three minutes' walk
from the station
We are at 35 avenue de la Gare, on the road that runs from Quimper railway station to the town centre. If you have just come off the train, walk up the avenue towards the centre: we are on your left.
- Leave the station and cross place Louis Armand to reach avenue de la Gare.
- Walk up avenue de la Gare towards the town centre and keep going straight for about 300 metres.
- We are on the left-hand pavement, at number 35, charcoal-grey shopfront.
Questions we are asked
The things people
ask us most
Do you speak English?
Yes. Someone at the counter will always be able to help you in English, and pointing works perfectly well too — everything is on display.
How does buying bread by weight work?
Our loaves weigh one to two kilos and are cut to order. Ask for a quarter, a half or a whole loaf, or simply say roughly how much you need — it is cut and weighed in front of you, and priced by weight.
What are your opening hours?
Tuesday to Saturday, 7.30 am to 7 pm, continuously. Closed on Sunday and Monday.
Can I order in advance?
Yes. Allow 48 hours for bread, the time the dough needs, and the day before for pastries. A phone call to +33 9 61 37 85 63 is enough.
Is everything made on the premises?
Yes. The breads, the pastries, the brioches, the custard tarts and the sandwiches are all made here, by hand. We also resell a few products from regional makers, and we say so clearly: honey from Cast, crêpes, cider, and organic eggs from the Ferme de Marine in Pluguffan.
Can I take something onto the train?
That is exactly what a good many people do. The station is three minutes away on foot, and the sandwiches, pastries and cut bread travel well.
Practical information
Hours, address, contact
Opening hours
| Monday | Closed |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 7.30 – 19.00 |
| Wednesday | 7.30 – 19.00 |
| Thursday | 7.30 – 19.00 |
| Friday | 7.30 – 19.00 |
| Saturday | 7.30 – 19.00 |
| Sunday | Closed |
Are you a business?
We deliver breakfasts, pastries and platters to companies in Quimper, and supply bread every morning to restaurants, bars, hotels and caterers. Our professional pages are in French.
The rest of the site — our professional offer, the sourdough page and the press page — is in French.