Behind the Scenes at Paris' Best Baguette Competition | PARIS BY MOUTH

"On the morning of April 25, 204 participating bakers dropped off two baguettes each at 7 quai d'Anjou on the Ile-Saint-Louis. Only 152 bakers were accepted into competition. The rest were thrown out because they didn't meet the strict size guidelines for a traditional French baguette (between 55-65cm and 250-300g)."

"I felt confident in evaluating the baguettes according to aspect (appearance), cuisson (cooking), mie-alveolage (texture), odeur (smell) and gout (taste), but Barillon was able to explain the technical failures that might have been responsible when the crumb was 'comme le chewing-gum.'"

"A good crumb should be elastic, with plenty of irregular sized and unevenly spaced holes, like the example on the right. The crust should be crunchy, not a wimpy millimeter like the example on the"

A bread enthusiast received an invitation to serve on the jury for the 2013 Paris Best Baguette competition (Grand prix de la baguette de tradition française de la Ville de Paris). On April 25, 204 bakers submitted two baguettes each, but only 152 met strict size requirements (55-65cm and 250-300g). The jury consisted of professional bakers, prize-winning apprentices, union officials, journalists, and previous winners. Evaluation criteria included aspect, cuisson (cooking), mie-alveolage (texture), odeur (smell), and gout (taste). Quality baguettes featured elastic crumb with irregular, unevenly spaced holes and crunchy crust, distinguishing them from inferior versions with dense, gummy texture.

Read at PARIS BY MOUTH | WE'RE DELICIOUS