A Frenchman’s long, winding road leads him to opening a one-man artisan bakery in Eugene

Before Guillaume Gras became a baker, he taught mathematics. Now he rises at midnight twice a week to bake traditional sourdough loaves at his new Eugene bakery, La Mouette Bread Shop, which opened in August.

True to his former profession, Gras has an equation written on a chalkboard above his bread shelves. He won’t reveal what it means, because if someone understands it, they get a free loaf.

Underneath the math equation, is a more universally understood phrase: “Dough, to be commanded, must be obeyed.”

Underneath that, in French, is written “Le chemin vers la quiétude n’est pas un chemin de tout repos,” or, “The path to tranquility is not an easy one.”

A wandering path to bread

Gras grew up in Nice, France, then finished his studies and taught math for several years at a university in Canada before trading in equations for a more nomadic lifestyle. He traveled through Eastern Europe, and then to Egypt, where he worked on an archaeological project for four years.

Asked why or how he ended up at each place or what drew him onward, he simply says he wanted to see the world. Opportunities arose through meeting people along the way. His work in Egypt seems almost incidental: “I met this guy who wanted to do this, and I was very into it,” Gras said. “So we went together and built the project.”

After Egypt, he moved to New York, and then South Korea, where he began baking. Why begin baking in Korea?

“I don’t know,” Gras said. “I just decided I was going to do it. As soon as I started exploring it, I really enjoyed it.”

He enjoyed it so much that in 2020 he returned to France to attend L’Ecole Internationale de Boulangerie, a prestigious baking school. He excelled and earned the highest-level professional diploma, signifying him as a master artisan. He is also certified by L’Ecole Française de Pizzaiolo as a pizza artisan.

The three-month baking program specifically prepares students to open their own bakeries, and Gras knew that was his goal.

Cactuses and seagulls

He and his wife arrived in San Manuel, Arizona, in early 2022, where he bought a ranch. Gras built a bakery there, delivering bread to local markets. The nearest home was 3 miles away down dirt roads, and Gras said that eventually wore on them. 

“It was very beautiful, but it was very, very remote,” he said. “We had some good times but we also had some disillusion. We said, ‘OK, let’s try to find something else.’”

They headed to the Oregon Coast, where Gras connected with Blythe Collins, owner of Bread and Roses bakery in Yachats. He started baking in Collins’ kitchen while searching for his own permanent space. A canceled flight from Eugene to France caused him to have an unplanned overnight stay in Eugene. And during a walk, he spotted a potential space on Blair Boulevard.

That location fell through, as needed renovations would have been too expensive. By then, though, the couple had already moved to Eugene. Gras took odd jobs in Eugene while continuing his search.

He eventually found his current location and named it La Mouette, French for “the seagull.” Growing up near the Mediterranean, the sea was always a favorite place. In Yachats, he would use flour to create a logo of a seagull on some of his loaves. In Arizona, the logo was a cactus. The seagull felt right, he said.

The rhythm of a one-man bakery

La Mouette’s limited hours reflect Gras’s one-man operation. The bakery is open just Tuesday and Saturday. To be ready to open at 10 a.m. Saturday, Gras arrives on Friday and works for about 10 hours making long-proofed sourdough. He goes home to sleep briefly, then returns at midnight to bake through the night.

“When you see four hours of opening, I have a lot of work to do for that, 14, 16 hours,” Gras said. “Right now, I am alone. Two days a week is what I can do.”

Everything is made with sourdough starter rather than commercial yeast, using organic flour and locally sourced ingredients whenever possible. Sourdough offers multiple advantages, Gras said: better taste, better crust, better nutrition, and longer shelf life.

“A country loaf can keep for like a week, and it’s still good,” Gras said. “Still good taste, and crust stays fresh.”

He uses a traditional Bongard oven, a French-made stone oven built for artisan bread. Gras carefully controls the acidity of the sourdough, keeping sweet breads like the Provencal brioche (flavored with orange, $5), the Oregon cherries brioche ($5) and baguettes ($5) less sour, while allowing savory breads like the olive fougasse ($5) to develop more tang.

He currently makes about 30 baguettes per bake, made with both white flour or wheat. While baguettes may be the quintessentially French bread, Gras says he prefers the country loaves — “the best bread,” in his opinion, with a crispy crust and a soft crumb.

Another favorite is the Linstrom, a Nordic rye with seeds ($5). Gras also makes a Sportif loaf with hazelnuts, walnuts and pears ($10). La Mouette’s bakery shelves, which empty quickly once the doors open at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and 10 a.m. on Saturdays, also hold a loaf he calls a méteil, a German-style rye with anise, fennel and caraway ($10), and some sweet treats such as palmiers or walnut rolls, and St. Andre cookies made with anise and orange peel (all $5).

Growing by word of mouth

Gras and La Mouette have no presence on social media. He says he’s never personally used social media, so his customers have so far all heard of him by word of mouth. He’s not worried about people finding out about him, or about competition with other bakeries in town, because everyone is doing different things.

“I think we’re more friends than competitive,” Gras said. “There are a lot of people who want bread and not too many bakeries making mostly bread.”

Looking ahead, Gras hopes to expand and bring on help so he can be open more days and bake more, but for now, he’s comfortable with the current pace.

This chapter of his life and his baking adventures feels right to him, he said, though, typical of his mathematical nature, he’s always refining and growing.

“I’m always working to make it better,” he said. “I try to choose all good ingredients and really put my soul into it. I hope this will work here. We’re trying to make it the best it can be.”

If you go

Where: 570 Lawrence St.
Hours: Tuesdays 2 to 6:30 p.m. (or until sold out); Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (or until sold out)