Paris Boulangerie?
i have one more day in Paris. Which bakery should I pilgrimage to?
Stumbled across Gosselin on the way to Muse d’Orsay the other day. The baguette I bought there was the best I have ever had. Beautifully cool crumb, and deliciously thin sweet crunchy crust.
My wife chastised me, that we’re about to go to the museum, and it’s wasteful to buy a baguette I can’t take in with me. But after she and my son tried a piece, the realized why I had bought it, and it was gone before we were at the museum. No butter or anything. OMG delicious.
After the museum, we returned to get another to take home for dinner.
I also found a piece of a Poulaine miche when at Galleries Lafayette. Delightfully sour. If I can, I might try to visit the bakery and get a whole one to take home in my suitcase.
The other bakery that impressed me is le Petit Parisienne (5 minutes walk from our hotel). organic bakery. The breakfast Croissants we bought were amazing. the small tastes of a piece of baguette I has was also very good. I had already had breakfast, though, and could’t Commit to a whole one, or to carrying one around all day.
At the end of the day I went back for a baguette. That was disappointing. I think the baker had the woman who sells the baguettes bake that last batch. It was still hot, but woefully under proved and overworked. The fact that it was under the counter, and not on display should have been my clue.
But the baker that made those croissants.... I want one of his baguettes. They are closed today (Monday) though. So tomorrrow, then.
So where to go for today’s bread? Anis Barbousa would be my default. But that’s just because I know the name because of the chatter about his technique here.
Are there other Boulangeries I should try?
M. Gosselin was also a winner of the best baguette competition in Paris. I've made the TFL version of his baguettes, as posted years ago by our own dmsnyder. And they also benefit from the same long cold retardation as the Bouabsa baguette does. And they are wonderful. M. Bouabsa's boulangerie is on Rue Tristan Tzara in the northern section of the city, nowhere near the center of the city. But still a mere Metro train ride away.
Allthough his may be far from what one considers the 'best', as I don't know better, the boulangerie of Eric Keyser, who has a foothold in New York as well, sells a fine Baguette Monge. This is a levain baguette, not a traditional, although I'd guess that he also carries those, as they are, well, traditional. Rue Monge is near the Latin Quarter.
Bouabsa. Thanks for correcting my spelling. That makes him easier to find.
I just found this list of the baguette finalists 2018.
And this evening we were at the Pantheon (Simone Weil was interred there yesterday, with a huge formal ceremony). And this place is just around the corner:
Emmanuel Decorde – Maison Decorde – 29 rue Gay-Lussac, 5th
So while my family went back to the hotel to rest, I headed there.
Bought a baguette traditional, and baguette levain. Both excellent. I had to take le quignon from each to taste on the bus. The traditional was still warm, with soft and creamy crumb, a chewy crust. Tougher and thicker than the Gosselin. (Again, I fear that buying baguettes at the end of the day means someone other than the baker finished them. It was scored with one long slash, rather that the cross-cross of the levain.)
The levain is delightfully sour. The crumb is darker, but I don’t think it has a small portion of different flour. (I usually put 5% rye in mine.) Perhaps?
Apologies. My family and I got to them before I thought to photograph.
Neither is as good as the Gosselin, in my opinion. But still far better than anything I can make.
Tomorrow morning I’m making a daybreak pilgrimage to Poulaine. I’ll investigate Keyser, too.