Choosing the perfect location for your bakery is becoming more of a challenge than it’s worth. The stream of TikToks and various recommendations from your hipster friends will tend to leave you confused and hungry. Luckily for French President Emmanual Macron, all he has to do to get the best bread in Paris is open his door every morning.
But the man delivering that bread will change hands when judges hand out this year’s prize at one of the cutest cooking competitions in the French capital.
Xavier Netri, owner of Boulangerie Utopie, was the winner of the 31st edition of the competition. Baguette Grand Prix of Paris.
The bakery, located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, beat out 172 competitors to win this year’s coveted prize.
For Netri, 37, it’s recognition for work he says he’s been doing since his early teens.
“I’ve been a baker for 25 years. And I told myself that it would be great to get recognition, and today it happened, so I’m very happy about it,” Netri. said AP News.
mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and her deputy Emmanuelle Grégoire took to social media to praise this year’s winner. Hidalgo will present Netri with the prize on May 7, the day of the Paris Bread Festival.
TikTokers have already begun to flood the bakery, speculating that Netri will have to increase his stock beyond what is needed for the 30 extra baguettes that will feed Macron and his staff every day.
Best baguette
Judged by a panel of judges who blind taste a stack of baguettes from the city’s best bakeries, the competition inspires fierce competition, innovation and experimentation.
Eight judges, consisting of six random Parisians, two professionals and an assistant, determine the best baguette based on five criteria: preparation, taste, crumb, cell structure and appearance.
Bakers typically use a starter rather than yeast to help the dough rise. The natural fermentation ingredient – a mixture of bread and water – makes the bread more difficult to perfect than using dry yeast, but it generally tastes much better.
Sourdough often gives its bakers the opportunity to make more varied breads, which allowed the Baguette Grand Prix competitors to push the boundaries to stand out.
“Every baker has his own secret, whether it’s in the choice of flour or the fermentation process. Even sourdough can contain unexpected ingredients, such as orange or grape juice, to enrich the flavor,” said Adeline Chazelle from Syndicat des Boulangers du Grand Paris. Sort in Paris.
Bread fit for a president
Netri will have to get used to a new schedule after winning this year’s top prize.
His reward is the opportunity to deliver fresh baguettes every morning to the official residence of French President Emmanuel Macron – the Elysee Palace. He also received a salary of 4,000 euros ($4,290).
Last year’s winner, Tharshan Selvarajah from Leuven-de-Pyrénées, delivered 30 baguettes to Macron’s residence every morning at 6:30 a.m.
“God gave us different hands,” said Selvarajah, who immigrated to France from Sri Lanka when he was 21. told The newspaper “New York Times.
“My mother’s chicken curry and my wife’s chicken curry may use the same chicken, but they taste different,” he said. “God gave me the hands to make the best baguette in France! I never get mad at the flour when I’m kneading dough.”
However, as the first non-French recipient of the prize, Selvarajah felt that he was constantly neglected by his peers due to his immigrant status.
“It’s unpleasant, but I don’t care,” he said Time.