In Baguette We Trust: Award for the best baguette in Paris announced

Award for the best baguette in Paris announced - Copyright Canva

Published on 26/04/2024 - 15:34

French baker Xavier Netry, from the Utopie bakery, has won the annual Best Baguette competition in Paris. He shares his secrets to his stellar French tasty treasure.

The French baguette. A national treasure. Nothing beats it, or that nostril-tingling warm waft of freshly baked bread as you enter a boulangerie.

It’s less a baked good and more a way of life, a symbol of the French art of living.

And now, the verdict has dropped, as the French capital has awarded 2024’s best baguette.

Yes, that’s a thing.

Every year for the past 31 years, the Syndicat des Boulangers-Pâtissiers du Grand Paris has brought together all the capital's artisan bakers to determine the city's best baguette. The Best Parisian Baguette competition is designed to assess traditional baguettes according to five criteria:

Baking quality
Taste
Crumb consistency
Honeycombing
Appearance

The French are great, aren’t they?

A bakery in the 11th arrondissement of Paris has won this year’s edition of the best baguette, becoming the new supplier to the Élysée Palace for the coming year.

The winner is Xavier Netry, from the Utopie bakery, announced the Paris City Hall press office.

Netry’s baguette won out of 173 shortlisted for the competition.

His secret for an excellent baguette? Sourdough.

“No two people have the same sourdough,” Netry shared with RTL. “It's a mixture of water and flour that we leave to ferment for a long time.”

He was in the mood to share: “I use banana and lemon, which I mix with flour and water and leave to ferment for a long time. It's a long process.”

By winning this award, he not only gets to supply President Macron with his bread, but also pockets the sum of €4,000 - a prize which will be presented to him by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, on 7 May, during the annual Bread Festival.

“Finally something to be proud of, I've won!” the baker enthused in a story on his Instagram account.

Hidalgo congratulated the winner on her Instagram account, saying she would be heading to the bakery to indulge in some award-winning baked goods, while her first deputy Emmanuel Grégoire announced “Everyone is flocking to Utopie”.

The task of selecting the winner was entrusted to six Parisians drawn at random, one assistant, and two professionals – who all tasted and deliberated for five hours before coming to a verdict. The baguettes presented had to comply with certain rules: they had to be between 50 and 55 cm tall, weigh between 250 and 270 grams, and have a salt content of 16.8 grams per kilo of flour.

L'Utopie succeeds Levain des Pyrénées, in the 20th arrondissement, which won last year's competition.

And in case you are planning a trip to Paris anytime soon, here’s how to best navigate the city, with the 2024 ranking of the best baguettes: