The best thing for me about holidays in France is going to a boulangerie to get fresh baguettes, coming back proudly brandishing the crusty sticks, pretending I’m a proper French person. And of course surreptitiously biting off the tops, which gives my game away because the French don’t get so tempted.
I'm a sworn Francophile and I am in awe of the basic everyday comforts that they get so right. No matter how small a village – it will have at least one or two boulangeries, baking twice daily. They will have local or regional varieties, some invariably named after the place, plus some stone baked or sourdough rustic loaves and, bien sûr, les croissants. But I am not really half as drawn to the latter as I am to the baguettes. Croissants you can get anywhere, authentic baguettes – only in France.
The recipe below is from ‘Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day’ – very good, but there’s not much to a good baguette dough save flour, water and yeast. The two things that make a difference are the flour, French type 55, which is attainable for me, and a baker’s oven – which hélas! is not. So my French sticks are tasty and chewy as they should be – the flour decides on the chewiness – but never as crusty as baked by a boulanger. Alors tant pis!