[Barbara]

Clotilde lives in the right arondissment for the perfect baguette.

http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/mag5/art20070401/htm/tour-gastro-meilleure-baguette-paris-2007.htm

Happy Easter everyone
_________________
Barbara

[georgia]

Thanks, Barbara. I've forwarded this article to a former student of mine, a Parisian who studied in the U.S. but who returned to Paris to live. (And why would he not, she asks...) We've continued to stay in touch and I know he'll appreciate it.

It also got me thinking about the bread situation in all of the places we live. Here in the Bay Area we are very fortunate to be able to buy really great bread from a number of sources. We are very spoiled. I do love Acme's baguettes, but La Farine nips at Acme's heels. (Donna, any comments?) How about everyone else? What's the commercial bread situation where you live? If it's not wonderful, are you a baker? (Those are not mutually exclusive circumstances...we do have wonderful bread and I am a baker as well.) Just curious.

Happy Easter. Happy Passover. Happy Spring, everyone.

[Debbie]

Have to say that I agree with the judges. These are my local bakers and I do love the bread from them all.... except I would not rank Coqulicot quite so highly, more down the list when compared to the others. But that is just my opinion
_________________
If you cannot feel your arteries hardening, eat more cheese. If you can, drink more red wine. Diet is just "die" with a "t" on the end. Exercise is walking into the kitchen.

[Rachel]

Debbie, I must respectfully disagree with you about Coquelicot... I have also been lucky enough to live in Montmartre and try all the wonderful boulangeries and I still miss Coquelicot's baguettes something awful. Every time I go to Paris now I try to sneak in a trip there! But then, it all comes down to personal taste, doesn't it? (For my money, the second-best baguette in Paris comes from Boris Portolan in the 19th, and I'm fortunate enough to have a friend who lives nearby who occasionally demands my cat-sitting services.)

Georgia, to answer your question - there is certainly good bread to be had in London, but you pay dearly for it. (as with everything else in London... ) I'm lucky to live in a borough with a farmer's market with two good baker's stalls, so I've come to rely on them and my local Italian deli for bread, though none of them makes a baguette approaching what I used to get in Paris. I love baking bread, though, and I've promised myself that once I've submitted my dissertation (next month!!) I'll do it more often. And I daresay my first project will be baguettes...

[georgia]

Rachel (and everyone else), may I strongly suggest you try to find The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart. Also anything else by Peter Reinhart, but especially BBA, if you are a serious bread baker. This is a terrific guide through the various processes of bread baking, and the results are delicious. I met him several years ago when he taught a class where I worked. Not only were his samples wonderful, they actually work for the home cook as well. Also...slightly beside the point...he's a very nice man...

Don't know whether Amazon UK carries this book. It's fairly recent and a big award winner (IACP, James Beard), so perhaps you'll be able to find it.

[georgia]

Ah...sorry, Rachel...I just checked Amazon UK and I see that the book I recommended is, indeed, available, just at a price that would feed a small nation. 28.50 pounds is a lot, right? Maybe you can find a used copy someplace. Or put it on your birthday present list

[Rachel]

Thanks so much for the tip, Georgia, and for doing the Amazon spadework too! I must come clean though - I'm actually American (American by birth, British by choice, as was said of Whistler!) so getting hold of the book from the US Amazon site won't be a problem. I'll just ask my mother to get it for my birthday.

[gingerpale]

141 loaves in the competition, the only variable being the yeast!