S'porean man, 51, ends up running bakery in rural French village for 18 years

"Go jer", a Malay slang, means to "just go for it".

It is that attitude that brought a Singaporean man from Tampines to central France, where he has been baking artisanal bread using a traditional wood-fired oven in a medieval French village for some 18 years and counting.

An unlikely adventure

Ewan Irwan, 51, who runs the Le Fournil de Saint-Robert bakery in Saint-Robert, told Mothership that it started out as an unlikely adventure.

In 2003, Ewan, who was then 29 and working in the engineering sector in Singapore, married a French woman and decided to move to France with her.

Or in Ewan's words, "to pack our things and go jer".

With the support of his parents, of course.

Baking as passion

After the move, Ewan was unable to find an engineering job in France, but discovered a new passion — baking.

To hone his skills in French baking, he enrolled in a one-year diploma course in baking in Lyon, and after graduating, worked for two years in bakeries in the city.

But his dream was always to settle down in the countryside, run a small bakery and live a simple life, said Ewan.

Fell in love with charming French village

It was a surfing trip to the west coast of France that provided the answer.

During the trip, the couple made an unplanned stop at Saint-Robert, a commune in the Correze department of central France, and fell in love with the charming village, said Ewan.

Tucked away in the French countryside, the village is approximately a five-hour drive from the capital, Paris, and is recognised as one of France's "most beautiful villages".

And as luck would have it, an existing bakery there had been put up for sale.

Ewan was immediately drawn to the bakery's use of traditional baking methods, with a wood-fired oven and 70-year-old sourdough starter.

Apart from using a machine to mix the dough, all the other processes are done by hand.

It was markedly different from what Ewan was taught in school.

He had to learn how to heat the wood oven to the right temperature, "pit" the dough so it would bake properly and observe and adjust the baking time as it would vary on a daily basis.

"I just loved how authentic and old school it was... The whole process is quite long. But the result is very satisfying," he said.

Running the bakery

By 2007, Ewan took over the running of the bakery.

His specialty is the "pain de campagne", French country bread with a sourdough starter.

Ewan's day usually starts at 2am when he starts preparing the bread before the shop opens at 7am, and can end as late at 10pm.

The shop closes for lunch but reopens from 3pm to 7pm, during which Ewan will bake croissants, feed his starter and prepare for the next day.

Each day, he uses up about 75kg of flour.

Son training to bake

Ewan and his wife have since separated, but continue to run the bakery together.

She comes in about three days a week to help him with the administrative work, while Ewan handles the bread production.

Their 19-year-old son, meanwhile, is training to be Ewan's sous chef.

Ewan said he has had customers, who drive as long as one-and-a-half hours from surrounding towns to buy his bread.

4.6-star Google reviews

The bakery boasts a 4.6 star rating on Google, with many positive reviews on the "authentic, traditional bread" and the "very friendly baker".

Some days, Ewan is sold out by noon.

Tourists from Paris, Holland and the U.K., who stay in holiday homes in Saint-Robert, will also order bread from Ewan to bring back home, he said.

What keeps him going

However, it's rare to see Singaporeans, or even Asians, in his village.

Ewan is grateful for visits from his friends, who visit him when they want to take a break.

And recently, a couple — a Dutch man with a Singaporean wife — bought a holiday home near the village and would visit during summer, he said.

Ewan himself tries to return home to Singapore every year, usually for four to five weeks at a time, to reconnect with Singaporean culture, food, friends and family.

"I do get homesick at times," he admitted.

So what has kept him going as a baker in France for 18 years, despite the gruelling hours?

"I guess to me, it's my passion for baking and seeing happy customers. To me, feeding people will always be a noble job," said Ewan.

And more than a livelihood, Ewan sees bread-making as akin to caring for "a living thing".

"The entire process of making bread, from feeding, to fermentation, baking, taking it out of the oven and hearing the bread sing (the crackling sound it makes) teaches me to be more patient and appreciate what I have in life now."

Top image courtesy of Ewan Irwan