Entre Les Murs

It's About the Bread

At the risk of being the gushing, more-French-than-the-French kind of ex-pats, we have become huge consumers of baguette. As everyone knows, there is a bakery on every block in France, and people walking down the street with a baguette are as common as people carrying knapsacks at home. We have done a fair bit of exploration of the bakeries in our neighbourhood - and there are at least half a dozen handy to our apartment.

Among just the baguettes, there are a wide variety, including campagne, fromage, ancien graines, cereale and nature, all slightly different at each bakery. There is at least an equal number of other kinds of loaves, plus various rolls, buns and croissants. And many places are patisseries as well (although strictly speaking this is considered a very different craft), so it's too easy to go in for a baguette and come out with a tarte tatin or mille-feuilles as well.


One key thing to know - and I'm still working this out precisely - is the point in the day at which the bread is baked. There's nothing like handing over one's eighty-five centimes and receiving a warm baguette in exchange, or a melt-in-your-mouth hot buttery croissant. It seems to be around 5:00 or 5:30 at Best Croissant, since that's when the line forms outside; but of course other breads, or croissants, don't necessarily arrive at the same time, and each bakery has a different schedule.


The bakeries seem to be quite competitive, since they display their awards and competition successes on their walls and in their windows. The names of the businesses themselves are often less prominent, and consequently we have taken to referring to them by their awards. Hence Best Croissant, which is across the street, where they just about hand me a baguette cereale (whole grain) without my asking, and Eighth Best Baguette, or simply "Eighth Best", in the nearby neighbourhood of Auteuil. Being the eighth best baguette maker (of 2004) may not sound like Olympic gold, but when you're competing with all the bakeries of Paris, it's a something to be proud of.

The kestrel is not gone altogether. She has put in a couple of appearances over the last few days. On Tuesday morning she appeared with loud cries and a mouse in her talons. This morning she was perched in one of the higher window ledges when I got up. I don't imagine she helps keep the pigeons down, since she's not much larger than they are, but she does seem to be mistress of the courtyard when she appears.

posted 25.5.06