Le Fournil aux 4 Vents à besoin d'un four à bois

The ‘4 Vents’ (Four Winds) Bakehouse needs wood-fired oven

Get involved in helping us build a bakehouse and flour mill in the middle of the countryside… and you’ll be able to enjoy organic sourdough bread.

The project

Our story....

A chance encounter brought us together on a beach in Goa in 2014.
Julie:
I’m from Fraissines, a small place in the Tarn region in the south of France. I’ve always loved adventure and during one of my travels I met Rotem.
Rotem:
I come from the city of Rishon LeZyon in Israel and during a long tour of India I met Julie.

Together we continued our adventures, with many jaunts and experiences along the way. In 2017 we felt the need to settle down, so following in Julie’s family footsteps, we bought a small ruin in the hamlet of Fontvieille, with the idea of building a home

 .

Once we’d found this little piece of heaven on earth, we wanted to lay down our roots in this soil.

Our mutual love of nature, agriculture and food, naturally brought us to an activity within the small-scale food processing industry and the sale of locally grown products, whilst respecting animal and human welfare… that is to say wood fired sourdough bread.

For a while we’d talked about the bread making process and different wheat varieties for digestive health reasons. Over the years, Julie had realised that she had developed a gluten intolerance, so straight away Rotem, the creative culinary genius that he is, threw himself into thoroughly researching the subject. Very quickly we achieved excellent results with regards to the taste and flavour of our products but also to our wellbeing.

We didn’t just stop there. We wanted to know everything there was to know about bread making, from the grain to the finished bread. In 2018 Rotem enrolled in an artisan bread making course in Brens. A real challenge for him, as he’d just arrived in France and didn’t yet speak French as well as he kneaded dough. That one-year course was a revelation to the both of us. We were now convinced that we wanted to share our love of this quality product that is sourdough bread.

Our house project became a bakehouse project. In the same year, we started our bread production at the ‘Gaec de Petite Terre’ bakery. The positive feedback we got from our clients during our debut at the Trebas summer market was very encouraging.

At the beginning of 2019 we started selling a weekly bread batch for pre-orders only. In the same year, Julie obtained her Diploma in Professional Bakery and single-handedly took over the bread-making process whilst Rotem started building the bakehouse. And that’s the story of the ‘4 vents’ bakehouse so far, being built slowly but surely and we are hoping that by the beginning of 2022 a soft and warm bread aroma will emanate from it. But before then, we need your help to finance the ‘4 Vents’ Bakehouse…

What will the money be used for?

To finish our project, we now need to invest heavily in order to fully furnish our bakehouse.

In order to minimise our bank loans, we need all of you who are keen to see us grow and can financially support us along the way.

By the end of the year, we are planning to build the Bread Oven!!!

We have chosen as our centrepiece a wood-fired Gueulard oven. This type of oven is a true brick oven and is specifically designed for wood firing. The furnace is situated outside of the baking chamber at the front and the bread is loaded with a baker’s peel. This traditional oven ensures an optimum baking quality.

This oven which is exceptionally economical in the use of wood fuel, is renowned for its incomparable baking quality and its durability. It’s not unusual to find these types of ovens still in use 100 years after being built.

The cost of this oven is 30 000 euros

Next up, our second biggest expense, located on the first floor of the building, will be the flour mill!

That’s right, with this project, we are aiming for more autonomy and a true re-localisation of the production process. We want to source our grains from neighbouring farms, to then grind our own flour. 

For this we are going to purchase a stone grinding mill such as the Astrié one.

The cost of this mill is 12 000 euros

The rest of the building works will also have to be financed.

Total cost of the project:  80 000 euros
But also a lot of sweat and love 

With your donations, you are supporting us and organic artisan farming, keeping alive the know-how of our ancestors and helping to provide nutritious bread.

We are looking forward to welcoming you at the ‘4 Vents’ Bakehouse.

If you do not wish to participate online, you can send your cheque or cash pledge donations to the following address:

RUIZ Julie
Lieu dit fontvieille
81340 Fraissines

You will receive the same reward options as those who have contributed online through MiiMOSA, you will just have to let me know which reward option you would prefer!

Rewards for donnations:

*10 € or more:

A big personal thank you for your contribution and support of the project

15€ or more

A big thank you with invitation for the bakery's opening event with a site visit a live demonstration of the wood-fired oven and drinks ;)

Estimated : July 2022

30€ or more

Discover our bread

A big thank you

An invitation to our inauguration evening

A bread loaf of your choice

60€ or more

A big thank you

An invitation to our inauguration evening

2 bread loafs of your choice

1 cloth "bread" bag with our logo on it!

100€ or more

A huge thank you

An invitation a private pizza evening with a wine tasting

Pledge 200€ or more

A mega thank you

Come spend the day and discover what stone milling and sourdough bread making is all about. You’ll get to knead bread and leave with your own made bread and 1kg of flour

Pledge 500€ or more

WOW!

A gigantic thank you

An invitation to the inauguration evening

An invitation the donors’ pizza evening

A one-day personalised beginners’ course in bread making, you’ll be able to take away your own made bread 

A one-night stay for 2 people at the local B&B in Fraissines