La Farm Bakery

About the Business

Specialties

Artisan Breads & Pastries

History

Established in 1999.

After years spent traveling the globe with yeast and flour in hand, consulting for many of the best bakeries in the world, Lionel Vatinet realized his lifelong dream and opened La Farm Bakery in Cary, North Carolina in 1999. La Farm Bakery is a modern bakery that continues the centuries-old baking traditions and techniques and honors the ordinary yet extraordinary boulangeries that once flourished in every little town in France. Here, Vatinet produces 15 different styles of breads, and an additional 20 seasonal breads throughout the year using a European-style hearth oven. Lionel possesses both a superior understanding of the fundamentals of French bread baking and the American zeal for innovation. Lionel is best known for his signature "La Farm" sourdough bread - an impressive 5-pound boule with an intense flavor, similar to those still enjoyed on farms throughout France.

Meet the Business Owner

Business owner information

Lionel V.

Business Owner

Visit La Farm Bakery and you'll discover a Master Baker who's risen as one of the highest quality bread producers and most sought after bread baking consultants in America - Lionel Vatinet. Inquire about his breads and Vatinet is likely to invite you to sit with him for a bread tasting that will change your outlook on breads forevermore. He'll gather a huge selection of breads, slice them in half, and suggest you squeeze each one allowing them to reveal their yeasty aroma, crisp exterior, creamy paste and developed character, all the while explaining that excellent artisanal bread begins with proper fermentation - or the "spirit of the house" as he calls it - and from there, the quality and flavor profile of the bread develops, with patience. Thanks to his depth of knowledge and understanding of every point of the process - from milling to fermentation to baking - Lionel Vatinet has been one of the foremost forces in the American artisanal bread baking industry for the past 20 years.