Farmer Pierre Cournut has converted his family dairy farm in Belfort-du-Quercy, located in the southwestern French department of Lot, into an artisan bakery named L'Épi Blé' Fortois.
The 35-year-old former dairy producer now grows his own wheat on fields once reserved for cattle, milling the grain on site to supply fresh bread to local markets and collection points.
Cournut made the decision to abandon milk production in favour of baking after experiencing a revelation during the pandemic lockdowns. He explained that having to complete travel permission forms every time he wanted to buy a baguette became frustrating, leading him to try making bread at home.
The domestic routine quickly turned into a passion, with Cournut describing how he fell in love with working with dough. After discussing the idea with his parents and brother, he compared his daily routine as a dairy farmer with that of a baker, finding it far easier to wake up at three in the morning to bake bread than to get up at eight to tend to cattle.
From grain to loaf on the farm
The farm operates a closed-loop system where land previously used for dairy cows has been converted to cereal crops. Cournut mixes different wheat varieties at sowing to ensure the resulting flour maintains a stable quality throughout the year.
Harvested grain is stored, cleaned, and ground into flour on the property using a custom mill built by an artisan from Le Tran. Cournut uses exclusively home-made flour in his workshop, purchasing no outside ingredients for his dough.
Under his official status as a peasant-baker, known in France as a paysan-boulanger, Cournut processes only what his farm produces. He bakes exclusively bread, offering no pastries, and relies on a single dough base to produce specialty loaves containing figs, whole seeds, walnuts, chorizo, or dried fruit. He noted with a smile that having to prepare a separate batch of dough for every variety would leave him with no time to complete his work.
A multi-generational family business
The bakery is run as a family enterprise alongside Cournut's parents and brother. Cournut oversees the baking process and handles local deliveries, while his mother, Evelyne, works full-time in the workshop after years of assisting on the dairy farm, where her morning duties previously began at half past six.
His father, Serge, a retired farmer, helps shape loaves of bread in the bakehouse. Cournut recalled that his father declared on the day of his retirement that he had no intention of remaining shut inside the house. Meanwhile, Cournut's brother continues to manage the farm's suckler cattle and steps in to assist the bakery during peak workload periods.
Serge Cournut stated that while the business is not making thousands, the family feels immense pride in how far they have come together as they work side by side kneading rolls.
Daily schedule and local impact
The physical demands of the bakery are reflected in the family's sleep schedule. On market days, alarms ring between midnight and half past one in the morning, while on non-market days work begins at half past four. The installation of a new oven a year ago helped streamline operations, reducing the baking time for a baguette from 45 minutes to 20 minutes and saving critical working hours.
Although the financial equilibrium of the business remains fragile following its launch in February 2023, the family views personal fulfillment as their primary reward. Evelyne Cournut explained that supporting her son and accompanying him in the business is a cause close to her heart.
The bakery's bread is sold at local markets and regional drop-off points, supplying several hundred households every week. Cournut expressed great pride in his ability to feed his local community.
