C.G.87
A Baguette?
At some point in the 18th century bakers in France began to make long, stick-like loaves of bread instead of the more traditional round loaf. Why? Nobody knows. Who can understand the French?
These loaves were informally known as baguettes (which basically means ‘stick’ or ‘rod’ or even ‘wand’ as in baguette magique). The earliest forms of the baguette weren’t actually stick-like, but we’re talking about France here, and they’re pretty relaxed about such things — at least until they decide to take them seriously. It took a former Austrian artillery officer, August Zang (honestly, that’s his name, I’m not making this up) to get the French to take the baguette seriously.
Zang moved to Paris in the late 1830s and set up a Viennese bakery using an Austrian steam oven. The introduction of steam in the baking process slows the formation of the crust and makes the outside of the bread flakier and thinner. The French literally ate up this new approach to pastry. They loved Zang’s kipfel, which they called croissants, and adored his baguettes so much they decided, being French, to codify the term and its pricing.
The baguette, having a minimum weight of 80g and a maximum length of 40cm, may not be sold for a price higher than 0.65 francs apiece.
Soon almost every bakery in France was using the steam process. And there you have it. Baguettes and croissants, those Frenchiest of French pastries, were introduced and popularized by an Austrian.
Oh, and the loaf in the photo above? Unfortunately, not a baguette. It is, in fact, a loaf of Vienna bread. Score another one for Herr Zeng.
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