This Brooklyn Couple is Selling Croissants out of their Apartment

A box filled with different types of bread

The pandemic has become synonymous with improved baking skills across the board, but the couple behind L’Appartement 4F has taken it a step further and created a full-blown boulangerie out of their Brooklyn home.

Ashley and Gautier Coiffard are self-taught bakers. “Gautier started baking bread and croissants a little before the pandemic started and after listening to Kathleen Tate’s episode on ‘How I Built This,'” explains Ashley. “We thought it would be fun to start selling to friends and coworkers.” The result was overwhelming support from friends and family, as well as from new acquaintances met through Instagram leading up to March 2020.

 

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“We had our first sale the week before the world went into quarantine. It was to Ashley’s coworkers and everyone loved what they ordered so they had placed a huge order for the following week,” the bakers recall. “Like everyone else, we were so afraid to leave our apartment, so we paused our ambitions and kept baking strictly just for us.”

 

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Gautier recalls fond memories of eating croissants with his family on Sunday mornings, and deciding to try and recreate them. “It’s a long process of trial & errors and a lot of bread that comes out of the oven flat, but little by little practice helps getting there,” says Ashley. With lots of flour and butter, magic happens and it’s a kind of carb-haven like no other.

While the pandemic reserved their baking skills for their own enjoyment, when deemed safe, the couple emerged with a small menu on Instagram. “After months of baking and playing chess every day, we decided to just make the leap and put a menu on our Instagram to see what would happen, and the rest is history,” they explain.

 

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The first menu featured sourdough baguettes, batards/boules, croissants, pain au chocolat, apple pie, and almond croissants. Consequently, as the bakers became more comfortable, they ventured into baking seasonal pastries such as Galette Des Rois, and their Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt and Nutella Almond Croissants became cult favorites. They now require quite a bit of ordering in advance to secure these delights (so much so that this writer was unable to secure a Valentine’s Day order a week in advance).

L’Appartement 4F eventually became so busy that their baked goods became some of the most coveted in the city, even alongside established bakeries like Dominique Ansel and Patisserie Claude. They’ve now shifted away from taking orders through Instagram, and one can order directly on their website.

 

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“Our favorite part of this experience is connecting with so many amazing customers and their reactions when they receive their baked goods,” the bakers note. “We would love to turn this into our full-time careers eventually.” If you ask us, baking over 50 baguettes a week is already a full-time job. A brick-and-mortar shop is definitely in sight, but the couple prefers to take it slow for the time being.

Orders available directly on Lappartment4F.com.

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