One sunny morning last year, my friend Rosemary invited a few of her blogger friends over to her lovely apartment for breakfast. It was a wonderful chance to meet other bloggers living in and writing about Paris, to exchange ideas, and share experiences. We also marveled at the breathtaking view from Rosemary’s balcony. But above all there is one thing, I cannot stop thinking about. One of Rosemary’s friends who traveled in from the suburbs brought as her breakfast contribution a baguette feuilletée. I cannot get it out of my mind.
Traditional baguettes from our lovely stay at the Manoir de Coutainville in Normandy last year; I stupidly did not think to photograph the vraie baguette feuilletée
A baguette feuilletée is a cross between a croissant and a baguette. It’s the shape of a baguette, and roughly the density of a baguette, but with the buttery (though not too buttery) layers of a croissant. Can you think of anything more delicious?
I had to leave breakfast on the early side, being in the minority of Paris bloggers who has a full-time job quite unrelated to my social media presence. But of course I wasted no time at work actually working — I had to immediately tell all my colleagues about this new discovery. We were not quite sure of the official name of the miraculous product at that stage, so we affectionately referred to it as the “croisgette”, and that pretty much stuck even when through furious internet research we unveiled the true name.
I popped in a few boulangeries that day to ask about this heavenly food. Perhaps I had just overlooked it all these years? But no one seemed to sell it; almost no one had even heard of it before.
The next day at work, we established a grand plan to divvy up the arrondissements and scour every boulangerie until we found our target. Needless to say, the plan was slightly ambitious and we soon forgot about our quest. But over this past weekend, I was discussing with some girlfriends the serious matter of experimentally combining traditional French foods with traditional (or not-so-traditional) American food products to make a loftier food that is better than the sum of its parts. For example, imagine a cross between a far breton and an American cherry pie. We attempted this last Thanksgiving in Brittany and while our recipe may benefit from a few tweaks, it was quite delicious! Of course all this talk reminded me of my beloved baguette feuilletée.
So I am now asking for your help. HELP!! Does anyone know where to find this baguette feuilletée within the périphérique? Could I ask each of you to inquire of your favorite boulangers? MERCI BEAUCOUP!!
