Makram Akrout, a Tunisian-born baker who has lived in France for 19 years, has won the contest of the Best Baguette of Paris in which 170 contestants participated.
Akrout will now have the chance to serve his bread at the presidential palace for a year.
The winning baker will work at the Les boulangers de Reuilly bakery in the 12th arrondissement of Paris.
“I am very proud,” Akrout told AFP, adding, “I have to impress all these people who will come here to taste the best baguettes in Paris.”
Akrout finished 10th in the competition in 2017, then finished 6th in 2018.
In addition to the award, Akrout was granted the right to supply baguettes to the Elysée for one year. He said: “I’ll prepare for this task.”
In the offices of the Union of Bakers and Confectioners of the Metropolitan Region of Paris, in the center of the French capital, all the baguettes were received and numbered without revealing the names of the bakers who made them.
Then a jury of 12 professionals from the sector and Parisians tasted and marked the different pieces of bread according to five criteria: appearance, smell, degree of doneness, the cavity inside the soft part of the bread, and, of course, taste.
Each piece of bread must be made traditionally, weighing between 264 and 314 grams and a length between 55 and 70 centimeters.
