A visit to Gosselin in Paris
This is one of my first posts, though I've been a long-time and avid viewer.
Last month I was in Paris and had a chance to visit a few bakeries. So I thought I'd share some pics here with everyone.
This post is about Gosselin's bakery. I went to the one on St Honore St (the original?) but these photos are from his other bakery on St Germain St.
The shop looks rather posh and wasnt very busy at around 930am. The service was ok, nothing to write home about, but not unfriendly. Just business-like (I speak fluent French, so it wasn't due to a language issue). Here, the baguettes are called "baguette tradition" versus "a l'ancienne" at the other shop, even though I asked if they had any a l'ancienne.
Here are shots of the baguette that I took at the park across the street. Sorry, the first one is a bit dark because of the flash... looks like night but it's actually 930am.
I cracked it open and it broke apart relatively easily. The inside was really fluffy and chewy at the same time!
As you can see, the crumb is nice and airy.
About 2 inches or so in height, with a nice crunchy (not crispy.. crunchy!) crust.
It tasted just as it was described in BBA. Slightly sweet with a nuttiness to it. The crumb was indeed cool to the touch and on the tongue. The crumb had a very clean taste when you eat it alone. When you eat it with the crust, you get a nice balance of sweet crust and clean, cool and very slightly creamy crumb. It was definitely one of the best baguettes I've ever had, and I've had qute a few decent ones in my life (in France, UK, Canada, other parts of Europe and even in Hong Kong where I'm currently living).
Was it the best ever? Hard to say, as this would be a huge claim. But definitely memorable.
Wish I could bake one half as good one day.
Anyway, just thought I'd share my experiences and hope others have a chance to try this much talked about baguette. :-)
I'll share my trip to Poilane's in my next post. Enjoy!
beautiful looking baquette.
anna
Thanks, Anna! Glad you enjoyed it :)
houstonwong, I appreciate you taking the time to share your visit to these bakeries. Your observations about flavor and the nature of the crust especially, are of great interest. I look forward to seeing some of your own work now and a comparison to the French bakeries.
Eric
Glad you liked it. I always like reding about breads from all over the world from others, too. As well as looking at what other people are baking at home. Envy!
My own bread will be a while before they're worth showing! :-P Though there's a batch in my fridge right now that's looking promising. Fingers crossed!
OMG, thank you so much for the crumb picture!!
That's how I remember French baguette is; much more airy (not just random sized holes,) fluffy (but not like Pain de mie high-gluten-fluffy,) and not dense.
Now I have picture to compare with my own.. has been bit difficult to imitate with just my memory only.
So, a big thanks to you!