Look, the French know how to make a good baguette, right? There’s not much controversy there. No one often says, “Well, I don’t think the French have really proven their baguette-making skills yet.”
But hang in there. Can the French make a big baguette? Could a very long loaf of baguette feed a town?
Yes. It turns out they can do it too.
A French baker in Surenes, west of Paris, made a 461-foot-long baguette on Sunday. The giant loaf has successfully reclaimed the title of world’s longest baguette from France as it surpassed the 435-foot-long baguette made by an Italian in 2019, according to Guinness World Records.
That’s longer than a football field. wait. stop. We are in France. That’s the length of nine bowling greens!
Before you accuse bakers of making extremely thin baguettes just to game the system, let us know that the record-breaking baguette must be about two inches thick.
A team of 18 people started making the dough at 3 a.m., using 200 pounds of flour, and began slowly moving it into the oven around 5 a.m. Little by little it emerges on the other side, fully toasted.
This is an important moment for Suresnes. Town leaders posted numerous social media messages before and after the bake.
The town of “Bravo aux boulangers” Announce. (“Well done baker.”)
“Suresnes is proud to be the birthplace of the world’s longest baguette record, promoting a national symbol of our gastronomy and the artisans who pass on their expertise,” Guillaume Boudythe mayor told the town’s website.
Dominique Anract, president of the National Federation of French Bread and Pastry, kindly endorsed an event taking place in the region this summer that may not get as much attention as baguette:
“Congratulations to all our artisan bakers in this Olympic year,” he said, adding: “Our baguettes are an important part of our gastronomic tradition.”
Once baked, the baguettes are distributed to the public, including the homeless. Of course, that’s if it’s spread with Nutella.
So the baguette is huge. But that doesn’t make it a success. For that, we have to turn to the annual French Baguette Grand Prix.
For the past 30 years, baguettes have been rigorously judged on taste, texture and a host of other factors. The judges include bakers, politicians, ordinary citizens and journalists (sadly, not this one).
this year’s winnerXavier Netry from Boulangerie Utopie in the 11th arrondissement of Paris was one of 173 entrants in April.
Furthermore, a French baguette—not an Italian baguette, not an American baguette, not a Burkina baguette, not a Monaco baguette— 2022 It is included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List along with Ukrainian borscht, Korean kimchi and Haitian soup.
Even if tomorrow some upstart from another country made a 500-foot-long baguette, France would still be number one.
