Baguette for the French President

In Paris they chose the best baker and the most correct baguette.

204 bakers selected their two best baguettes and entered them into the "Grand Prize for the Best Traditional French Baguette from the City Hall of Paris" competition. Only the bread of 152 bakers passed the qualifying round; the rest of the buns were not the right size. The ideal length and weight of a French baguette is 55-65 cm and 250-300 grams.

“Imagine how excited I was when I received a letter from the mayor’s office inviting me to be a member of the jury for the 2013 competition,” wrote restaurant blogger and editor of Parisbymouth.com Meg Cymbeck. “I confirmed my participation faster than you can say Grand prix de la baguette de tradition française de la Ville de Paris (the full name of the competition is “Grand Prize for the Best Traditional French Baguette from the City Hall of Paris”) I took this mission and prepared (I had to eat a lot of bread) to choose the best baker in France. ".

“Actually, what did we evaluate?” says Tsimbek about the competition. “A good crispy baguette should be elastic, with a large number of different-sized and uneven holes, and the crust should be crispy, no thicker than a millimeter.”

But the color and degree of readiness of the baguette is a matter of taste, she believes. Therefore, the bread color palette is very diverse. Some prefer crispier options, while others, on the contrary, prefer not very baked ones, because then the grain taste is less felt.

Each jury member tasted at least 50 baguettes before the final ten bakers were selected. Then the second samples went into action (each person provided two baguettes for the competition).

In the end, sample number 187, a baker from the 14th arrondissement of Paris, Ridha Khadher, won. "Really?" - The baker, who was immediately called and told about the victory, could not believe it. Reporters found Kader wiping away tears in front of a line of shoppers. The baker said that he had been baking bread since he was 14 years old, but he could not even imagine that something like this could happen to him. As a reward for the best bread, Kadera received a cash prize, a certificate and the right to supply his bread to the Elysee Palace for a year.