Two women and an oven are defining one of the latest homegrown businesses in northwest Ohio as they specialize in a cornerstone of French cuisine with the opening of Sur Le Pouce, a bakery in Perrysburg.
Nathalie Cottier, owner of Sur Le Pouce, teamed up with veteran sweets artist Erin Liedigk, owner of 7 Little Cupcakes, to create the French experience at 122 West S. Boundary St. in Perrysburg’s Country Charm Shoppes.
“It's authentic,” Carine Abdul-Aziz, 56, of Perrysburg raved about Sur Le Pouce’s pastries and bread.
Both Mrs. Abdul-Aziz and Mrs. Cottier immediately responded to each other with their customary French greetings, “Ça va?” before continuing a full conversation in their native tongue.
“It's exactly the way it's done back in France,” Ms. Abdul-Aziz, who was originally from Paris, said of Mrs. Cottier’s new bakery.
“And there is no preservatives, no sugar, and it's excellent,” she waxed as she took her parcel of bread.
The collaboration between the two bakers involves Mrs. Liedigk focusing on cupcakes, cookies, and wedding cakes, while Mrs. Cottier focuses on different kinds of fresh French breads, croissants, and anything else that comes to mind.
Customers have welcomed, “the idea of walking into one place and do one stone two birds,” Mrs. Cottier said.
Because the two share a kitchen and a storefront for their separate specialties they have affectionately started calling each other “roommates.”
Mrs. Liedigk met Mrs. Cottier in the middle of launching one of her other storefronts, when the two were sharing kitchen space at a separate location.
“We get along great, and I knew we could grow our businesses together,” Mrs. Liedigk said about her work colleague.
“I just saw her potential. She had a lot of potential. She had a lot of drive,” Mrs. Liedigk said.
At the time, the two initially met Mrs. Cottier was only selling her French baked goods at the Perrysburg Farmers’ Market, which was a safe place for the self-taught baker to test out her goods.
Originally from southern France, and spending considerable time in Lyon, France, Mrs. Cottier and her husband have spent the last 10 years of their lives together in the United States with their three boys.
“So this is how I started to bake,” Mrs. Cottier elaborated. “For my family.”
After a little bit of time in the United States, Mrs. Cottier said her husband began to miss authentic French bread, so she, without prior instruction, set out to make it for her family.
Putting her best foot forward, Mrs. Cottier experimented, and slowly refined her baking with feedback from her family.
“My kids are the best judge. If my kids are like, ‘nope,’ then it's not gonna end up on my table,” she said.
With her own unique test group infinitely available to her, Mrs. Cottier has refined and even pushed beyond the traditional styles of French bread. “I wanted a cheese bread, so I made it up.”
“I'm craving something, so I make it. I mean, I fake it until I make it, and then, when it's good, I can sell it,” she said.
And customers definitely are happy with what she’s making, even as Mrs. Cottier strives to create more and more options, including gluten-free options in the works.
“We bought four loaves of bread, a cookie, and croissants,” Dave Baranski, 75, of Perrysburg, said about their first trip to the bakery.
Mr. Baranski and his wife, Joyce Baranski, 66, of Perrysburg, stopped in after hearing a buzz about the new shop, which opened at the beginning of January.
“I drove in from Northwood, almost Millbury, to get the baguette,” said Theresa Lagger, 58, of Northwood.
The bakery makes a product that northwest Ohio hasn’t previously had access to before, and it means people like Ms. Lagger, bread fanatics, are willing to travel for it.
“Did you see those ladies walking out with a big smile on their face?” said Barbara Rectenwald, 87, of Perrysburg.
“That's the way we bread people are,” she said.
“Can't wait to slice that end off, and put butter on it, and just sink your teeth into it,” she said. “And some of us have better teeth than others, but we're willing to take the chance.”
First Published February 4, 2023, 1:30 p.m.
