Baguette d'Or

Undoubtedly, the most winning aspect of French culture is the baguette. Meg and I went to taste "the best baguette in Paris" baked by Djibril Bodian of Le Grenier à Pain Abbsesses in the 18th arrondissement, who recently won the "Grand Prix de la Baguette de Tradition Française de la Ville de Paris." This annual competition judges baguette entries on appearance, baking, aroma, the crumb, and taste. Below is a short history of bread in France that I got off of parisnotebook.wordpress.com.

"Bread consumption began to rapidly dwindle in the 20^th century falling from 620 grams per person in the early 1900s to just 150 grams in the early 1990s. Unfortunately quality began to suffer as well. Bread quality plummeted during the two World Wars when rations and conditions made bread making particularly difficult.

Modernisation of the industry in the 1960s didn’t help. The thirst for “white” bread made from flour enhanced with additives like ascorbic acid and fava bean flour, over kneaded and quickly churned-out without long fermentation, produced a white, but tasteless crumb, and almost spelled the end of a century’s old tradition.

Thankfully, a handful of artisan bakers, millers and experts fought to preserve the integrity of French bread and insure that truly good bread remained a part of French heritage. The State had a hand as well and in 1993 enacted a “French bread law” which stated that “baguettes de tradition” must be mixed, kneaded, leavened and baked on premises, without ever being frozen. They must also be additive-free and can contain only four precious ingredients–wheat flour, water, salt and yeast."

T.G. for baguettes!

And it tasted mighty fine!