Montreal, 18 March 2008 - Premiere Moisson, Quebec's leading artisan bakery, has entered the Ontario market offering a selection of its traditionally-crafted breads at select A&P and Dominion supermarkets and Ultra Food & Drug stores in the GTA, The Barn Markets in Hamilton, and Loeb in Ottawa.
First opening in Montreal in 1992, the landmark bakery today sells over 350,000 loaves of bread a week in its 15 large-scale bakeshops, as well as in supermarkets in Quebec including Metro, Loblaws, Sobeys and Costco.
Always innovative, the company generated headlines last September by becoming the first bakery in Quebec to grow its own wheat by partnering with Meunerie Milanaise, a company specializing in the milling of organic grains, and with Agrifusion, a group of wheat producers that use no pesticides or chemical fertilizers. The mill now supplies 90 per cent of the flour used to make Premiere Moisson's breads.
"The type of wheat used - how it is grown and how it is milled - is so critical to producing the best-tasting traditional loaf," says Josee Fiset, vice president of the family-run company. The move to homegrown wheat is in keeping with the company's mandate to follow the food from field to table. "For the first time," says Fiset, "we will be able to trace the flour right back to the grower."
The company has earned an enviable reputation for its approach to traditional bread making. The bread dough undergoes slow fermentation to allow taste and texture to develop. All the breads are baked on a stone deck in multiple batches several times a day to ensure peak quality. All of their breads are made with naturally aged unbleached four, sea salt and filtered spring water, with no added preservatives.
Premiere Moisson breads sold in Ontario are fully baked at the company's Montreal headquarters then frozen and shipped to grocery stores in Ontario, where they are baked briefly in a hot oven (brown 'n serve) at each store location.