10 Baguettes Worth Crossing Paris For (2026)

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

In the center of the French capital, French bakers make their submissions for the best baguette each year, awarded by the City of Paris. For the 33rd edition, the deputy mayor, industry experts journalists and local residents made up the panel of judges savoring the entries to anoint the best baguette in the Paris competition. This year the 143 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. 

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 55-60 cm in length and weigh 250-255 grams. 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)

Sithamparappillai Jegatheepan of Le Fournil Didot, 103, rue Didot, 75014

The Sri Lankan native arrived in France in 2003 and entered the world of pastry in 2008, first learning how to make macarons, and then bread. What sets his baguette apart? 14 hours of fermentation at 5 degrees Celsius, for a thin golden crust and airy, fragrant interior.

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, as is the case this year. 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.”