The winner receives €4000 and supplies France's president with their daily bread for that year until a new winner is chosen. They are judged based on baking, appearance, smell, taste, and crumb. Nearly 200 bakers compete each year in front of a 14-judge panel following strict guidelines. In April 1944, a competition called Le Grand Prix de la Baguette began in France to determine who made the best baguettes. ĭeck ovens heated to over 200 ☌ (390 ☏) use steam injection to allow the crust to expand before setting, thus creating a lighter, airier loaf, and to melt the dextrose on the bread's surface, giving a slightly glazed effect. The first steam oven was brought to Paris in the early 19th century by August Zang, who also introduced Vienna bread ( pain viennois) and the croissant, and whom some French sources thus credit with originating the baguette. These combine a traditional gas-fired oven and a brick oven, a thick "deck" of stone or firebrick heated by natural gas instead of wood. Long, wide loaves had been made since the time of King Louis XIV, long thin ones since the mid-18th century, and by the 19th century, some were far longer than today's baguette: ". loaves of bread six feet long that look like crowbars!" " Housemaids were hurrying homewards with their purchases for various Gallic breakfasts, and the long sticks of bread, a yard or two in length, carried under their arms, made an odd impression upon me." Ī less direct link can be made with deck or steam ovens. Outside France, the baguette is often considered a symbol of French culture, but the association of France with long loaves long predates it. It was first recorded as a kind of bread in 1920. The word baguette means "wand," "baton," or "stick," as in baguette magique (magic wand), baguettes chinoises (chopsticks), or baguette de direction (conductor's baton). In summary, "the bread which became known as the baguette first appeared in its most primitive form in the eighteenth century, then experienced several refinements and variations before being (officially) given that name in 1920." : 57 No one of these events constitutes "the invention of the baguette," but together they define the modern "baguette." : 14 Finally, the word "baguette" appears to define a particular type of bread in a regulation of the department of the Seine in August 1920: "The baguette, having a minimum weight of 80 g and a maximum length of 40 cm , may not be sold for a price higher than 0.35 francs apiece". Long, stick-like breads in France became more popular during the 18th century, : 5 French bakers started using " gruau," a highly refined Hungarian high-milled flour in the early 19th century, : 13 Viennese steam oven baking was introduced to Paris in 1839 by August Zang, : 12 and the Austrian Adolf Ignaz Mautner von Markhof 's compact yeast in 1867 at the Universal Exposition. Much of the history of the baguette is speculation : 35 however, some facts can be established. In 2022, the artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread was inscribed to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. In November 2018, documentation surrounding the "craftsmanship and culture" of making this bread was added to the French Ministry of Culture's National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
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