July 14th is Bastille Day, France’s national holiday, and what better way to celebrate than by eating crusty delicious Poilâne bread?

Apollonia Poilâne, who took over Paris’ most famous bakery at age 18 when her parents died, characterizes the baguette as an un-French import from Austria in the late 19th century. She says the true French national bread has always been the crusty sourdough loaves bakeries like Poilâne make with whole grain flour. In French, whole grain bread is “pain complet.”

Those of us who can’t jet off for Paris anytime soon can recreate the famous Poilâne loaf at home, thanks to Breadtopia’s Eric Rusch. Eric gives full instructions in a two-part video on his website, for baking an almost-no-knead boule modeled after Paris’ well-known Poilâne loaf. Click here to watch the video. if you try this wonderful bread, email us about your experience .