You might think it is impossible to know which boulangerie produces the best baguette in Paris. Luckily though, there is a contest each year, a competition to find the best baguette maker in the city…
La Meilleure Baguette de Paris is judged by 15 specialists – pastry chefs, bakers and past contest winners. In a blind tasting test, the judges sniff, inspect, weigh and taste hundreds of batons from 231 bakers, evaluating them for taste, smell, texture, baking and appearance.
The baguettes must comply with a set of rules strictly administered – they must weigh between 250g and 300g and measure 55cm to 65cm. And, they have to be absolutely delectably, scrumptiously delicious.
In March 2015, baker Djibril Bodian, 38, of La Grenier a Pain won the title of best baguette maker in Paris for his bakery in the Montmartre neighbourhood. This is Bodian’s second win, he also took the title in 2010. Winning this prestigious award confers celebrity status on the baker and his boulangerie, guaranteeing long queues as customers flock to enjoy an edible icon.
Bodian’s prize was 4000 Euros and the honour of supplying the President and the Elysée Palace (the official residence of the President) with bread for a year from May onwards.
Here are the top 10 in Paris’s annual baguette competition 2015:
1. Grenier à Pain, 38 Rue des Abbesses (18th arrondissement)
2. Boulangerie Pâtisserie Sainte-Anne, 193 Rue de Tolbiac (13th)
3. Huré, 150 Avenue Victor Hugo (16th)
4. L’Académie du Pain, 30 Rue d’Alésia (14th)
5. Le Puits d’Amour, 249 Boulevard Voltaire (11th)
6. Le Moulin du 16è, 152 Avenue de Versailles (16th)
7. Deedam Holding, 63 Rue de Turbigo (3rd)
8. Aux Pains Garnis, 25 Avenue de St Ouen (17th)
8. Les Gourmandises d’Eiffel, 187 Rue de Grenelle (7th)
9. Douceurs et Traditions, 85 Rue Saint-Dominique (7th)
10. Maison Delcourt, 100 Rue Boileau (16th)
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