Is the baguette the greatest thing since sliced bread?
The award winning baguette on Rue du Raymond Losserand in Paris' 14th arrondissement
Trial and error is the technique we are using today, a science teacher once said. Arriving in Paris I promptly decided to put this practice to the test when hunting down a baguette whose outer shell is crusty and inner matter is soft and spongy.
Shopping around for a genuinely tasty baguette can be quite a task in the French capital, contrary to the viewpoint that French bread is the freshest and tastiest throughout the world.
The sheer number of bakeries, or boulangeries, in central Paris means that the sampling of a new baguette can become a regular pastime. There are more bakeries in Paris than there are pubs in the north of England.
However, it has been known to enter a chic-looking bakery and come out with a distinctly average baguette. It is either over-cooked, too sweet, too full of air or under-salted, leaving the consumer’s taste buds wondering what the hype over French bread is really all about.
Flipping the coin over the other way, there are a handful of Parisian bakeries, whose distinctively average interior design brush aside the sophisticated facades of more traditional bakers to produce a culinary product of sheer excellence. These baguettes are succulent, crunchy, easily swallowed and perfect for mopping up the remaining sauce from you plate.
The mopping process reminds me of a post I read on on the blog (Salut) of a former Daily Telegraph journalist for whom I completed some work experience a few years back.
The truth of the matter is, that to find a baguette of true Parisian quality, one must undergo a process of grit and determination, or trial and error as my eccentric science teacher said should be a philosophy for life. For now, however, I will leave you all with a head start. If ever in Paris, go taste the famous, award winning baguette at the following address: 96, Rue Raymond Losserand, 75014 Paris.
Flick Wit
Michaelie