As much a part of the French ‘look’ as a striped sailor’s shirt or foulard (scarf), the baguette is something of a fashion accessory in Paris, tucked under an arm, poking out of a shopping bag, or sharing a bicycle basket with a posie of flowers and the weekend newspaper.
That the French love their baguettes is unquestionable. They line up patiently outside the best bakeries to buy them, they often purchase two bread sticks so they can munch into one on the way home, and they’ll happily eat little more than a baguette with butter and jam for breakfast.
But we didn’t appreciate just how seriously the French take their baguettes until this trip to Paris, when we learned that not only did our neighbourhood of Montmartre boast a dozen or more boulangeries (bakeries), including four brilliant ones on our street, but that we also had some award-winners.
That’s right, in France, they have baguette competitions and give prizes to the best baguette! The winner gets the privilege of providing baguettes to the President as well as the kudos that results in the inevitable long lines outside the bakery.
To show how seriously Paris – and France – take their baguettes, they instituted a law on how ‘baguettes de tradition’ must be made. Firstly, the bread must contain only wheat flour, yeast, water and salt – and no preservatives, which is why baguettes go stale so quickly.
Secondly, the bread must be made fully on the premises, with no freezing involved in the process – many bread shops buy in frozen bread and just heat it.
But what makes this mix of wheat flour, yeast, water and salt so special – or what makes some more special than others? Paris-based foodie and blogger, Meg Zimbeck, who said she tasted 27 types of baguettes for her story on The Best Baguette in Paris for Budget Travel believes “The outside should be golden and crunchy, and almost taste grilled or nutty, while the inside should be soft and textured.”
On a Context food-tasting walk we did with her, Meg gave participants a lesson on how to identify a good baguette. Slicing the ends off two baguettes, one a manufactured supermarket product and the other from an artisanal bakery (and a former award-winner), she compared the two bread sticks.
“A good baguette has holes and is textured inside,” Meg said, pointing out the smooth uniform consistency of the ‘bad’ baguette. “It’s the natural fermentation process that creates these holes and gives the baguette a more complex flavour,” she revealed showing us the sponge-like texture of the ‘good’ baguette.
We decided to test out Meg’s theory and do our own baguette tasting of bread sticks bought from bakeries in our street, including the winner of this year’s competition. Here are our conclusions.
Baguette Tasting in Paris
Au Levain d’Anton
6 Rue des Abbesses
Lara:This one is paler looking and is longer than the others. It’s also wonky – is the shape important? It’s moderately crunchy though it tastes a bit like cardboard. I really don’t like that one at all. In fact, I don’t even want to finish it…
Terence: Agree. That’s supermarket quality, as far as I’m concerned. It doesn’t have any real taste. It’s a bit blah. If you had this at a restaurant, you wouldn’t be eating this on its own, you’d only really use it to mop up a sauce. The structure is also very uniform. It doesn’t appear to be artisanal at all.
Lara:Yep, we’re feeding that one to the birds.
Boulangerie Alexine
40 Rue Lepic (a continuation of Rue des Abbesses)
Lara:This one is too ‘white-bread-sandwich’ for me. It’s better than the last one, but again, only slightly better than a supermarket baguette.
Terence: Although the structure led me to believe it would have a lighter and more complex mouth-feel, it is actually heavier and the crust is really not that interesting. It has more crunch than the last one yet it’s more spindly – it has actually broken in two.
Lara:That’s because I dropped that one on the road on the way home…
Terence: Oh…
Coquelicot
24 Rue des Abbesses
Lara: This one is very rustic looking, only slightly out of shape, and sprinkled with flour, unlike the others. It’s crunchy when you bite into it, and it has a nice texture. Actually, I like this texture a lot, it has a lot more flavour; it’s very doughy. I could happily eat more of this one.
Terence: The crust is slightly thicker, and it’s got a nice light crunch to it, but the bottom is a bit soft. It tastes more of yeast – it’s a good bread. If I got this at a restaurant I’d know they cared about the kind of bread they served. It really has a lot more flavour than the others so far.
Le Grenier à Pain
38 Rue des Abbesses
Lara: This one is darkest in colour. It’s also very crunchy at first bite but the inside is a little too light for me and while it’s the most airy in terms of appearance, it’s not as airy to taste. I like the flavour of this one a lot.
Terence: I really like this one a lot. This has the best texture for me. Look at it (pointing to exterior) it’s as if the yeast is just dying to break out of there. It’s almost alive! This is one I’d happily eat walking along the street, while not wearing a beret or a striped shirt!
Baguette Tasting Conclusion
Lara: Coquelicot is by far the best for me. I could eat more of that now, but I’m very happy to go feed the others to the pigeons.
Terence: Not the one from Le Grenier à Pain, you’re not. I’m going to agree with the judges and say this is my favourite, but I’d happily eat the Coquelicot bread too.
If you liked this, you might also like Paris: Baguette Protocol, an amusing interview with Meg about baguettes on Budget Travel, and our tongue-in-cheek tastings of Sherry in Jerez and 99 cent wine in Barcelona. Do you have anything you’d like us to taste for you? Let us know in the comments below.
Yummo. I think a killer baguette with amazing butter ranks right up there with my favorite desserts…although we were pretty taken by Paris’ chocolate mousse too!
I have to say that while Terence loves a great baguette, I’m actually not a huge fan. I much prefer German and Eastern European breads – love loads of grain and rye, black breads, and the like… although I do love what Michelin-starred chef Jordi Artal in Barcelona does with a baguette-style bread (chocolate, olive oil and salt!), based on a traditional Catalan snack, which we wrote about here: http://grantourismotravels.com/2010/03/29/the-dish-afternoon-chocolate-delight/
You are quite right, not every bagette is the same, and a fantastic loaf is essential to a good French holiday.
Although not on your street, I can highly recommend the offerings of Le Fournil Chamoniard – Boulangerie et pâtisserie in Chamonix, Haute Savoir. They have a number of shops in town, but our favourite is on the Promanade Marie Paradis. They do a great range of grainy, rustic bagettes, which I understand is quite unusual.
Bon appetites!
Chamonix? That is a long way from Montmartre!
Maybe they had some tips from the Swiss to put some grain the bread?
Cheers!
My mouth is salivating!! I’m a lover of bread, baguettes in particular, so this post really hit the spot. Thanks for the delicious info and keep up the great work on your travels. I’m certainly living vicariously through your posts, especially in Paris! :)
You’re welcome, we really *got it* this time, before we didn’t understand all the fuss to be honest!
I love a good baguette. Split lengthways, buttered and dunked in a café creme for breakfast beats a croissant any time!
It still surprises me when I see the French buying baguettes from the supermarket. Not as if there aren’t boulangeries around!
Love baguettes! Especially with parma ham, and rocket salad !! Woah.. all of a sudden I’m hungry again.. :P
I’m with you! Even though the French do the best baguettes, I reckon the Italians do the best fillings! Yum!
Never underestimate the amazing power of a freshly backed baguette. I often miss good bread during my travels… This post made my mouth water so much!! ;)
Glad to hear it, Zara! Totally agree! We’re in Australia now and while there’s some good artisanal bread here, it’s very expensive. I love how you can find great bread in France (Germany also) and it’s not expensive at all. The French buy it every day – they’d be up and arms if it was out of their reach. I’m missing it too now. Thanks for dropping by!
Did the same tour! Now Meg does her own with Paris by Mouth which are excellent. Sad that the French are consuming far less bread these days (and their standards are plummeting! )
Ah right, so she’s not doing them through Context anymore? Love Context! I’m sure they’ve recruited other fantastic guides. Have you done some of their tours?
Yes, I’ve read a couple of stories recently on bread consumption dropping. It’s hard to believe. Some of our strongest memories from our very first trip to Paris years ago, and driving around France, are of locals lining up to buy baguettes, with baguettes under their arms and in their bicycle baskets, and simply munching on them as they walk down the street. Such great visual memories. Such a shame!
I love the dialogue you have, it makes for a wonderful blog post! I’m totally amused by feeding you discards to the birds and I appreciate your honest opinions.
Thanks, Brooke! Much appreciated. Thanks for dropping by :)