“We know that there is no junk”: the winner of The Best Bakery 2023 gives us his advice for choosing a good baguette

There is nothing more French than a good crusty baguette. During a press conference on the occasion of the release of the new season of La Meilleure Boulangerie 2024, the program director, Matthieu Bayle, returned to the attachment of the French to this product. “Bakery is truly a French passion,” he observed. The French have a very particular and unique relationship with bread in the world.”

To cite some very revealing figures, today there are no less than 6 billion baguettes sold each year across France and 60% of consumers eat them every day. Jean-Baptiste Grangé, winner of the show La Meilleure Boulangerie de France 2023, told us the secrets to choosing the right baguette.

To highlight bread and this French know-how, La Meilleure Boulangerie de France is the ideal program. Each year, the jury travels across France to discover artisans, each more creative and generous than the next. The objective? Elect the crème de la crème of bakeries. In fact, last year, it was Jean-Baptiste Grangé who won the famous title.

It was in 2021, a few months after the opening of his bakery in Pau, that the thirty-year-old was contacted by production to participate in this extraordinary adventure. He will reach the final against his best friend before winning the title of “Best Bakery”. An experience that radically changed his life. Pastries like bread no longer hold any secrets for him. Although it is sometimes difficult to distinguish one good baguette from another, the winner shared his advice with us to be sure to make the best possible choice.

For Jean-Baptiste, it is clear: “It’s better to eat a little less bread, but good ones, rather than cheap baguettes or ordinary baguettes. This is the essential point”.

Then, an important detail to recognize good bread is the cooking. It is essential to have colored bread: “Bread is best eaten well cooked. Good bread is bread that is cooked enough”. But this is not the only determining criterion. From a visual point of view, always look at the bottom of the stick, this could say a lot about its quality: “If you have a wand with little dots underneath, little nubs, forget it! This would mean that it is a baguette that is cooked “on fillet”. This is a technique that was done a lot in the 80s. These are very long white and thin chopsticks. It’s not okay. This is not a sign of quality. The bread underneath must be very smooth and well colored.” Indeed, cooking “on fillet” is a method generally used to cook frozen bread.

On the appellation side, “as soon as you see “classic baguette”, it is recommended to avoidspecifies Jean-Baptiste Grangé. We should rather favor the traditional baguette because it has a decree which protects it so we know that there is no junk in the baguette”. You now know how to choose THE ideal baguette!