Award-Winning Baker Shares The Secret to His Baguette Recipe

"After Xavier Netry won the Grand Prix de la baguette—beating more than 170 competitors and taking home €4,000 as well as the role of official supplier to the Élysée Palace—I learned that Utopie, at 20, rue Jean-Pierre Timbaud, sells his award-winning baguette for €1.15. The competition judges baking quality, taste, crumb consistency, honeycombing and appearance, and Netry attributes his victory to a good sourdough starter, "a good long fermentation," careful baking time and "some love and some passion." He also stresses that "no two people have the same sourdough" and says he uses "banana and lemon, which I mix with flour and water and leave to ferment for a long time. It's a long process." The baguette comes from a tradition that received UNESCO protection in 2022, and Netry publicly thanked his followers on Instagram for their support." - Stacey Leasca