We had the most amazing baguettes in our early days in France and then we noticed the bread wasn't so good especially in Paris. We had wonderful bakeries in our little village of Carqueiranne when Jim was teaching at the University of Toulon. So, great to hear there is a "tradition" baguette.
We would often have lunch in a park or our balcony...baguette, round of Camembert, grapes, and a bottle of wine for the equivalent of a dollar. This was 1972. And a little secret. I often bought 100 grams of Roquefort cheese (around 60 cents as I recall) and gobbled it down before I got home. Jim wasn't a big fan of it anyway.
They would bake bread twice a day so you would have fresh, sometimes even still warm from the oven, for your evening meal. Sometimes they tried to fob off some leftover morning bread on us foreigners but I soon learned. I remember one of the locals warning me it was "morning bread". Well, now we buy our baguettes at Save-on and cut them up and freeze them so we always have French bread...well, not "tradition" French bread but we still think we capture just a bit of France when we eat it which is almost daily.
The dubious quality of some Paris baguettes led to changes in the early 1990s.Consumers and artisan boulangers banded together to try to return the traditional quality of Paris baguettes. In 1993 a law was passed in France that regulates how a baguette de tradition (traditional baguette) must be made. Baguettes de traditionhave to be made on the premises of the boulangerie, from start to finish. They can contain only four ingredients — wheat flour, yeast, salt and water. Only then can they be called tradition.
The baguette law is supported by an annual competition for the best Paris baguettes — the Grand Prix de la Baguette de Tradition Française de la Ville de Paris. To be entered in the competition a baguette must measure between 55 and 70 cm, weigh from 250 to 300 grams, and have 18 grams salt per kilogram of flour. The winner, the top baguette-maker of the year, gets the honor of supplying the French presidential residence with baguettes every morning for the entire year.
So, when buying a baguette in Paris, we recommend you always ask for a tradition and, if you get a chance, try a baguette from one of the prize winning boulangeries. Below you'll find the lists of the ten (or more) winners for every year going back to 2010.
The Best Paris Baguettes – 2021 Winners
- Les Boulangers de Reuilly, 54 Boulevard de Reuilly 75012
- Boulangerie de la place, 162 Boulevard Vincent Auriol 75013
- Maison Lardeux, 67 Rue Caulaincourt 75018
- Aux Délices de Vaugirard, 48 Rue Madame 75006
- Aux Délices de Glacière, 90 Boulevard Auguste Blanqui 75013
- Le Pétrin Fontains, 88 Rue Cambronne 75015
- Boulangerie Béchu, 118 Avenue Victor Hugo 75016
- Boulangerie BAC, 2 Rue de la Butte aux Cailles 75013
- Boris Lumé, 48 Rue Caulaincourt 75018
- Aux Castelblangeois, 168 Rue St Honoré 75001
