Anyone younger than thirty has probably never tasted a baguette the way it should be. Today’s bakers don’t want to get up at 4 in the morning to bake bread — it’s a lot more convenient to stick frozen dough in a computer-controlled oven, which spits out tasteless baguettes just before the shop opens.
And home delivery in a tacky old Renault van? That’s mostly a thing from the past, too. Sometimes I really miss the France that I knew forty (or even twenty) years ago!
The good bakers are actually coming back. 15 years ago it had become almost impossible to find quality bread. Nowadays you see everywhere young artisans with the greatest respect for their profession opening old fashioned bakeries.
Here in Amsterdam we couldn’t believe our luck a couple of years ago when this young fellow from the Vendée opened a French Boulangerie-Patisserie not far from where I live. As you know, homesickness goes through the stomach, and I had so missed good bread here in Holland.
On Saturday morning, I think you find the whole of the French community of A’dam standing in line for REAL croissants and a good baguette in front of his store!
Don’t be so negative Romke! You can still get excellent ‘baguette parisienne’ in… Paris! if you make sure to go to a ‘boulangerie traditionnelle’ as opposed to the kind you describe.
And as for Simon’s remarks, yes, in many villages, real bakeries are more in demand. I’m lucky to have 2 of these new hard-working entrepreneurs within 3km of my home (as well as their “dépôt de pain” at the village café just up the road!).
And yes, they are up before the sun to start kneading dough. On Sunday morning, the croissants are sold out by 9AM.
These are among the things which make life much better here than ‘ailleurs”: a glass of Fleury, a slice of Cantal in a piece of fresh baguette…
I was coming to make almost the same comment than those above. As a 51 years old, I’ve seen the good baguette disappear during the 70′s and the 80′s… and come back again. I live in a middle town of 17000 with a dozen of boulangeries. Two of them are excellent and everybody knows it : that’s where you see people queuing…
More good news : some supermarkets sell good bread too. The local Carrefour’s bread is just great.