Pommes Boulangère (French Baker’s Potatoes)

It's no secret that chefs hold pommes boulangère in such high esteem, but it's not as well known to home cooks - and that will hopefully change as it's now become a fairly trendy side dish.

Pommes boulangère: a trendy but humble classic French dish

Pommes boulangère is a simple and humble French potato dish that comes from centuries ago, when the typical French peasant wouldn't have had a range at home. They'd take their pan full of potatoes to the local boulanger (baker, from where we get the word boulangerie "bakery") after the daily batches of bread had all been baked, letting the dish cook slowly with the residual heat of the baker's oven.

Unlike gratin dauphinois, which is more well-known and certainly fancier (dauphin, literally "dolphin" but meaning the eldest son of the king of France), pommes boulangère a humble peasants' dish that swaps the silky cream for stock. The result is a lighter but more savoury side, tender but a little crispy on top, that pairs perfectly with roasted meats.

What goes in a pommes boulangère?

My version of pommes boulangère is inspired by Will over at Fallow, so you'll see that it's a tad different from the traditional method of making a boulangère.

Surprise, surprise, pommes boulangère's main ingredient is potato, and your choice of potato is the most important consideration for getting this dish right. The second is technique, of course, which I'll cover below.

• Potatoes (pommes): for this dish, you want a potato that's floury and starchy so that it absorbs as much of the stock as possible. Fallow uses Russet, but I used Agria. Other good varieties for a traditional boulangère include Maris Piper, Desirée, Cheyenne, Charlotte, and Monalisa. Slice them fairly thin, about the thickness of a poker chip, either with a mandoline or a knife and lots of patience (that's how I did it).
• Butter: I usually recommend unsalted butter so that you can control for salt better, especially if using a bouillon cube like I do. If you use salted butter and a bouillon cube, don't add any more salt. In this recipe, you can use clarified butter or just normal butter and keep it cloudy; it'll scorch a little, but it lends a lot of flavour.
• Onions: a few big onions will be needed, either white or brown but I suppose red might add some nice sweetness too. Whatever the case, don't be worried if it looks like too much onion; they'll shrink to around half to a quarter of their size as they caramelise. To get a good caramelisation, however, you'll want to try and slice your onions pretty consistently, about 3mm each, so that they caramelise evenly and thoroughly.
• Stock: most traditional recipes call for chicken stock, but I've gone with Fallow's recommendation and used beef bouillon cubes to about 1L of water. You can opt for vegetable stock too, if you like. Real stock will always beat bouillon cubes, so use that if you have it. If using bouillon, make sure to reduce the salt used in the recipe.
• Seasonings: thyme is the most common herb in a boulangère and lends a wonderful flavour. A little salt and black pepper are lovely touches, too. Rosemary is quite good with potatoes, so I suppose you could use that if you like.

Tips & tricks to get a tender but crispy pommes boulangère

Pommes boulangère is a dish that takes a long time to bake, but it's well worth the wait. Trying to rush things by cranking up the heat will cook the potatoes faster, sure, but past 170°C you'll burn the butter and the top whilst the lower layers remain too tender or even undercooked.

Patience is truly a virtue, and this dish rewards patience. Remember, it was made by peasants placing their potatoes in a baker's oven with residual heat only.

Keeping the boulangère at 120°C will take longer, but it will let the potatoes do their work and soak up the stock and butter. After about half an hour, use a potato masher to gently push down the top layer and bring up remaining stock, then repeat this every 15 minutes or so.

A cartouche isn't necessary, but it can greatly help at trapping in the moisture for the first half hour. Going low and slow ensures that the top is crispy - not burnt - and getting a perfectly tender middle.

As for the onions, it's the same idea: go low and slow. Caramelise them to a nice light brown colour and they'll taste wonderful. Yes, this too will take time, but time is just what onions need to caramelise properly. You can add in a splash of water and start sautéing the onions on high for the first few minutes to get a head start, but after that you'll have to let the onions sauté in their own water.

✅ Pro Tip: try to place every layer of potatoes neatly, overlapping one another and using the nice big pieces around the edges of the pan and saving the little bits for the middle.