Le Baguette

Oh, those baguettes. When I think of my time in Paris, I think of walking to the boulangerie a few blocks from my friend's apartment each morning, standing in line by cases of pastry, to get a fresh baguette to take along for the day's activities.

Our boulangerie was called "Victor's" on Rue Rambuteau. The cases were packed with wonderful delights but the fresh bread and the tartines were simply the best.

Victor's wasn't the only boulangerie in Paris, of course. There are many more famous and others more charming. We stopped here to pick up something for a later picnic at Place des Vosges.

Nothing like a picnic with soft, delicious cheese and that baguette with the perfect crust! (I enjoyed another picnic on the Seine, no less, with a great baguette playing a major role!)

And the obligatory bottle of a perfect Medoc to go with it!

My resident bread baker, Rick, took a baguette class a few years ago at Zingerman's in Ann Arbor and came back making wonderful baguettes. But he was able to cut his time down significantly -- and still make a baguette that was far better than any you get in any shop here using the recipe that Paul Hollywood shared on the Great British Baking Show masterclasses.

It's remarkably easy and really tastes fabulous. (American bakers, please note that Paul uses grams and weight of ingredients so a reliable scale might be in order or check conversion tables!)

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