Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The best baguette in Angers


There are lots of boulangeries here. I haven't visited all of them by far, but if there's a better baguette than this one I'll eat my hat (and yes, I have a hat). Luckily for me, the boulangerie that makes this amazing, crispy, beautiful piece of heaven is less than a minute's walking distance from my house, meaning that I can saunter over in my pajamas to buy a still-warm (that's right: still-warm) half-baguette for 50 cents in the morning. Or the afternoon or evening for that matter--pajamas should be all-day clothing in my opinion, and also in my opinion, the baguette is an all-day sort of food. This is probably why most boulangers make multiple batches of this miracle-bread every day so they'll be super-fresh. Lots of hyphenated words in that paragraph.

If you've never had a genuine baguette before (and if you live in the states and not in a major city chances are you have never had anything like a real baguette before no matter what they call it in the supermarket), I would highly recommend it. It should be crunchy on the outside (it will probably cut the roof of your mouth when you eat it, but it's so delicious you won't mind the pain), and perfectly soft on the inside. I also prefer baguettes that are cooked to a nice deep brown with perhaps the first hints of burning on the ridges, but this is personal taste. I often hear customers at the boulangerie asking for baguettes "pas trop cuites" (not too well-done).

Spread this sucker with butter and jam, tapenade, dijon mustard with chicken breast, or goat cheese and you have a meal fit for princes provided they haven't been guillotined.
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