How a French-American Couple’s Dream Bakery Became a Reality

The Deli is an ode to the artisanal food makers of New York. In the last issue, we introduced Ilana Wharshavsky and Elisa Tordjmann’s grandma-inspired bakery Crème Caramelle. This week, we spoke to Gautier Coiffard and Ashley Breest of L'Appartement 4F. The couple aren’t classically trained bakers—Coiffard is a software engineer and Breest was working as a mortgage processor while in nursing school (she graduated)—but they drew inspiration from Coiffard’s French background, and are making technically excellent and disarmingly delicious baked goods out of their Brooklyn apartment. Learn more about their journey here.

The Product: Classic French sourdough breads, cookies, and croissants with an American twist.
The Deli Pick: Pain Au Chocolat.
How To Buy: Shop here. Thursday-Sunday, pickup is available from Cobble Hill and delivery is available in Manhattan and Brooklyn for orders over $15. 
Price: $4-$50.

Coiffard: I'm a software engineer, I'm not a baker at all. I just was missing bread from France. You can find it in New York, but it's harder—it's expensive or it's Italian.

Breest: He's very picky with his bread, obviously. So he just started baking, and it was really good. I thought we should share it with friends and family. When we were in France, looking at different chateaux for our wedding, we were listening to the podcast “How I Built This,” the episode with Kathleen King of Tate's Bake Shop, and thought, maybe we should maybe sell Gautier’s croissants and bread. This was January before the pandemic. I was working as a mortgage processor, so I went to all the guys that I worked with, and I said, buy my husband's bread, pies, and croissants, and they put in an order. They all loved it and were like, okay, double my order for next week. And then the following week was March 15th, and the world shut down. We put everything on hold.

Then, last June, we decided to sell again. We were bored, so we came up with a very small, limited menu. Just through word of mouth we started getting orders. We put up a website in December and it just kept growing and growing. For Thanksgiving, we had over 60 pie orders.

Breest: The Brooklyn Heights Association reached out to us in April. They found that the community is really desperate for a bakery, so they asked if we were looking for a storefront. Multiple people brought us to the same location, but we had such a good feeling about it.

Coiffard: We want to get a wine and liquor license. 

Breest: We would like to do tartines and have more sandwiches, and there's things that we can and cannot do from our apartment legally. So once we have all the proper permits, we hope to be able to sell some more desserts and a little prepared food but just a small, classic, simple menu. Maybe just three sandwiches, a couple of tartines, things like that. Ham and butter. What more do you need?

I want to change the way Americans treat and consume pastries and bread. I would love for it to be the family bakery spot where you go when you get your daily bread, a place where you can go for French happy hour, a go-to place for people from Manhattan to want to get on the subway and come to Brooklyn. I can see it being a little bit more of a lifestyle brand. We started selling baskets, Gautier's uncle and aunt make jam in the south of France together that we would like to sell too.

Greatest hit: Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookie

Most underrated product: Baguette à tout [baguette with everything bagel seasoning]

Tips to best enjoy your products: Consume the pastries soon as possible! Americans are so used to things with preservatives so if you must keep our baguette, you can freeze it and reheat it in the oven.

Favorite places to eat in NY: Lucali, La Vara, and 5ive Spice

Food makers to follow: The ‘Za Report & Chef Scott Cava