All About the Baguette: The Ten Best in Paris

Good bread is one of the greatest of all French culinary delights. It’s hard to beat the simplicity of crusty golden baguettes with salty Brittany butter – a simple yet irrisisstible treat. Finding the best traditional baguette in the city is no doubt high on the list of things to do for visitors. Fortunately The City of Paris held its annual contest to guide us on our quest for the best baguette in Paris in 2025. 

the Best Baguette in Paris Competition – Grand Prix de la Baguette Tradition de Française de la Ville de Paris –

Every year in the center of Paris, French bakers make their submissions for the best baguette, awarded by the City of Paris. For the 32nd edition, the deputy mayor, industry experts including 2024’s winner Xavier Netry from Boulangerie Utopie and local residents made up the panel of judges savoring the entries to anoint the best baguette in the Paris competition. This year the 187 contenders competed for the Grand Prize money of €4000. The lucky winner also has the honor of being the supplier of baguettes for both the Town Hall of Paris and for President Macron and his guests at the Elysée Palace for an entire year. 

One interesting facet of this prestigious award is that despite the traditional French baguette being an iconic and integral part of French culture, a number of past winners have family origins outside of France. This has also included bakers such as Karim Akrout of Les Boulangers de Reuilly, Mahmoud M’seddi (who at 27 in 2018 was the youngest winner of the prize) of Boulangerie 2M, Djibril Bodian from Le Grenier à Pain in the 18th arrondissement, Yosuké Fujie of Maison Landemaine Martyrs, Anis Bouabsa, along with others.

2023’s winner Tharshan Selvarajah from Au levain des Pyrénées, Paris 75020, was born in Sri Lanka and moved to France from Sri Lanka years ago after studying law in his native country. He worked in an Italian restaurant in his early days in France. One of the patrons, Xavier Maulave, was the owner of a local bakery, Au Levain des Pyrénées. He later offered a job to Selvarajah. Accepting the position at the local boulangerie, despite knowing little about baking bread, turned out to be a life changing decision for Selvarajah. Upon winning, Selvarajah told AFP “I cried because we are foreigners and we came here to learn how to make traditional French bread …I am very happy to have won the prize.”

What makes a great baguette? 

Smell, taste, texture, the quality of baking and appearance are the criteria used to judge the competition. Each baguette must have an elongated shape that is 50-55 cm in length, weigh 250-270 grams, and have 1.4 grams of salt per kilo of wheat flour. It should be elastic with a crunchy crust. Judges also looked for irregular sized and spaced holes in the interior indicating proper fermentation.

BEst Baguette in Paris Winners

The coveted award of best baguette of the year goes to…..(drumroll please)

Mickaël Reydellet of La Parisienne, 12 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, Paris 75010

The 41 year old prevailed over this year’s competition, gaining recognition for a second time, after having won the same award in 2016. His bakery also won an award earlier in the year for ‘Best Pastry’, thanks to the work of his pastry chef Mathieu Lévêque.

Complete list of winners of this year’s competition are (in order):

1. La Parisienne ; 12, rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière, 75010
2. Aux Délices du Palais ; 60, boulevard Brune, 75014
3. Boulangerie Guyot Ferreira ; 28, rue Monge, 75005
4. Aux Délices de Glacière ; 90, boulevard Auguste-Blanqui, 75013
5. La Petite Alsacienne ; 45, rue Raymond-Losserand, 75014
6. Graine ; 74, avenue Gambetta, 75020
7. Le Marquis de Saint-Cyr ; 20, boulevard Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, 75017
8. Le Délice de Bagnolet ; 42, boulevard Mortier, 75020
9. Le Moulin de la Croix-Nivert ; 39, rue de la Croix-Nivert, 75015
10. Alexine ; 109, avenue de Saint-Ouen, 75017

And if you can’t make it to Paris to taste-test the winning baguette for yourself? Check out this baguette recipe from past winner Anis Bouabsa (formerly of Au duc de la chapelle) and make your own fresh bread at home!

RELATED LINKS

• A fresh baguette is so good paired with French butter! Here’s why butter is better in France.
• Dreaming of a place of your own in Paris where you walk down to your local boulangerie for fresh baked bread? Check out our latest Marais apartment for sale.
• Another favorite from any French bakery: croissants. And you don’t have to search far and wide because we know where to find the best croissants in Paris!
• If you’re looking for a market street, off the tourist trail and filled with local delights, head to rue de Lévis, one of our favorite shopping streets in all of the city..

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