Lucie Eloi Rizzi founded La Famille Bakery, an artisanal French bakery in the Hamptons. Inspired by generations of family tradition, she brings a taste of the French countryside with her delicious pastries and other baked goods, made fresh in small batches. Through Christmas, she is popping up with a bakery corner at Marders in Bridgehampton every Saturday from 9:30 AM until sold out (pre-orders are available). We asked Rizzi a few questions to learn more about her bakery and story.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and what inspired you to start La Famille Bakery?
I was born and raised in a tiny town in the Périgord countryside in France. My family has been farming for generations. My great-grandmother had a bakery where she made bread every day, and my parents later opened what we’d now call a farm-to-table restaurant, cooking with ingredients straight from the farm. So I really grew up surrounded by food made from scratch.
Some of my earliest memories are in the kitchen or out in the fields, picking fruits and vegetables to cook with. I was always making something, and that love of cooking and baking never left me.
After moving to New York City in my twenties, I worked in the art world for a few years before moving into hospitality. I started La Famille without a big business plan or grand vision. I just felt the need to get back to making things with my hands, doing something I genuinely love.
You grew up in the Périgord countryside in France. What are some of your favorite childhood memories involving food and baking?
There are so many! When I say our lives revolved around food, I’m not exaggerating. My parents had a small farm with livestock, grains, vegetables, and fruit. We could kill and pluck chickens and hang them in the fridge for Sunday roast. My mom would send us into the garden to pick vegetables for the day’s soup.
My first job as a teenager was picking raspberries at a neighboring farm. We had to be up at 4 AM because you can’t pick raspberries in the midday heat!
But one of my favorite memories is simply making things in my grandma’s kitchen. She lived next door, so we’d run over, and because she was always in her kitchen, we would just be with her by her kitchen table, making food, inventing recipes, mixing things together. It was the truest form of creation.
Your parents owned a farm-to-table restaurant. How did that environment shape your approach to food?
It taught me from a very young age what food really is and what it takes to grow vegetables and raise pigs, chickens, and cows. We never ate strawberries outside strawberry season, and the same went for tomatoes. And honestly, you don’t miss strawberries in December!
I think that upbringing really shaped my food philosophy. I want to work with real, seasonal, local ingredients and support the farmers who grow them. I want things to feel authentic, raw, and real.
I think there’s a misconception that the French countryside is all romantic and picturesque. Farm life is hard work. It’s resilience, dirt, hard work, and a certain rawness. That’s a part of my background I want to bring into my baking, too.
Was there a particular moment when you realized you wanted to bring a piece of French culture to the Hamptons?
Honestly, not really! I’ve always been very much myself and never tried too hard to fit into a mold. I have a bit of that French stubbornness, too! I don’t want to play into French clichés. I’m just being myself, and my story naturally comes through in my baking. I think that’s what people connect with.
Do you have a signature pastry that you feel best represents you as a baker?
I love canelés! They’re from Bordeaux, where I’m from originally, well, just outside of Bordeaux. They’re such interesting little pastries. They look almost burnt on the outside, but they’re not! They’re incredibly crunchy outside and soft and custardy inside, with almost a crème brûlée flavor.
They’re complex in taste and texture but made with very simple ingredients. No fuss, nothing superfluous. I love that. And they take a bit of technique to get right, which makes them even more interesting to me.
What’s your favorite part of sharing something you’ve baked with another person?
Honestly, that’s the best part of all of this. It makes me so happy to share my food with people because food creates so much emotion and connection.
Since starting La Famille, I’ve met so many amazing people simply by making and sharing a croissant. I think that’s pretty cool!
How do you incorporate local, seasonal produce into your baked goods?
I bake with the seasons, so right now I’m making apple clafoutis, a very French dessert, with Milk Pail apples, and a poached pear and frangipane tart using local pears. I also use leeks and butternut squash from Halsey Farm in my quiches.
The farms out here are incredible, and I find it so inspiring to work with whatever is available locally. It pushes me to be creative and lets the seasons guide what I make.
My main exceptions are the Isigny butter and French flour I use for my croissants. I’m also trying to incorporate more freshly milled New York grains into my tart doughs. It’s all about finding that balance between my French roots and the amazing ingredients we have right here.
