French bakers ask for baguette to be equated with Eiffel Tower
As RFI reports, a delegation of French bakers came to congratulate Emmanuel Macron on the arrival of the new year 2018 and, according to tradition, gave the president a "galette des rois." This pie with almond filling and a baked-in porcelain figurine is served on French tables in early January.
This year, the "galette des rois" with a diameter of 1.2 meters, presented to the president, was baked by baker Joël Piquenard from Vaucresson (Hauts-de-Seine department). Together with Dominique Anract, 130 representatives of the profession came to the meeting with the president at the Élysée Palace. They asked Emmanuel Macron to support the art of baguette making and help promote the dossier at UNESCO.
Dominique Anract, owner of the Parisian bakery La Pompadour, hopes that the inclusion of the baguette in the lists of world intangible heritage will help preserve the craft traditions of French bread baking, promote the development of vocational education, and ensure the professional activity of 33,000 French bakers. On December 7, 2017, Italian pizza was added to the UNESCO lists. This precedent prompted French bakers to create a dossier on the baguette.
The baguette, which is usually called "French," has several traditional names: "Parisian baguette" or simply "baguette bread," all derived from the elongated shape given to the bread. A standard baguette should be about 5-6 cm wide, 3-4 cm high, and 65 cm long. The weight of a baguette is 250 grams. The white crumb should be hidden under a crispy golden crust.
A distinctive feature of a good baguette: when the crumb is squeezed with fingers, it immediately returns to its original shape as soon as the hand is removed. According to a French law from 1993, a traditional French baguette may only contain the following ingredients: wheat flour, water, yeast or sourdough, and salt. Three additives are also allowed: up to 0.5% bean flour, up to 0.5% soy flour, and up to 0.3% wheat malt flour.
The origin of the baguette shape is unknown, but written sources indicate that the baguette first appeared in France in Paris; it is most likely a capital city invention. Travelers who visited Paris in the 19th century mention the existence of the baguette. Before that, bread was most often given a round shape – it allowed the crumb to stay fresh for a longer time.
It is believed that the "stick" shape (the word "baguette" translates as "stick") was possibly invented during the Napoleonic Wars so that soldiers on campaigns could tie the bread to their thigh like a saber or rifle. But the most likely assumption is that the thin and long bread appeared after a decree forbidding bakers from starting work and disturbing the sleep of Parisians before 4 a.m. This left no time for preparing ordinary round bread, which rises more slowly.
Finally, the archives of the Paris Metro tell that its chief engineer Fulgence Bienvenüe had to take measures to stop fights between workers from Brittany and Auvergne, who, as was customary in those provinces, carried knives for cutting bread. Knife carrying was banned, and the metro builders were provided with bread that could be easily broken by hand. Since then, it is sometimes believed that a fresh baguette should not be cut but rather broken.
180,000 people work in the French bread baking craft industry. Every day, 30 million baguettes are baked in the country (with a population of 65 million), of which only slightly more than 30% are industrially produced.
Since 1994, a competition for the best baguette has been held in Paris, the winner of which gets the right to supply bread to the Élysée Palace for a whole year. In 2017, first place went to the bakery Boulangerie Brun, located on Rue Tolbiac in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. The jury consists of representatives of the profession, journalists specializing in gastronomy, and six gastronomic bloggers selected by lot.
"The baguette is as much a symbol of France as the Eiffel Tower. In our country, 12 million people open the door to a bakery every day," says Dominique Anract, asserting the baguette's right to a place on the UNESCO list. In December, a delegation of bakers was received by France's representative to UNESCO, Laurent Stefanini.