I awoke this morning to a wall of good aroma blasting forth from the back of Against the Grain, the bakery I am blessed and cursed to live behind. In a bleary-eyed daze, I stumbled toward the open door in my flannel pants and slippers. As I entered the warm and delicious-smelling interior, I raised my fist in anger and cursed Doug the Baker for tormenting the neighborhood with constant temptation. Instead of challenging me to a duel (which I surely would have lost), Doug the Baker invited me to a VIP baguette tasting. Apparently, he had been up all night baking five kinds of baguettes. Once again, Doug has bested me without raising a finger. Lazy bum that I am, I spent the night sleeping.
Because Doug is a restless-minded culinary genius, he has been wondering lately about flour and how different varieties might introduce different kinds of properties into his baguettes.
So he has been gathering varieties of flour in anticipation of last night’s bake.
This morning, he lined up the results on a table in the back of the bakery, and asked a few close friends (and poorly dressed, uninvited interlopers) to partake.
Each was carefully cut…
…into appealing, bite-sized strips.
And carefully labeled for easy identification.
As the judging began, Doug demonstrated proper baguette-tasting technique which begins, interestingly enough, with deep nasal inhalation.
Of course, after executing a good sniff, the taster is then allowed to actually taste. Doug counseled us to “chew heartily,” or something along these lines. His point was to chew with purpose, to chew with presence of mouth, with full and open consciousness of tastebud. And so I did my best.
While chewing, I deliberated, with my fellow judges, legendary woodworker Bob Ortiz and a nice fellow named Tony, who had flown in from California just for the tasting.
As I moved down the line, tasting each baguette (and cleansing my palate between each with water), I was treated to a veritable carnival of taste and texture variety. I would like to describe the many meaningful distinctions with sophistication and precision, but I’m no gourmet and won’t pretend to be. I eat stuff and know when it’s good. The baguettes were very, very good.
Why am I telling you this? Because you, too, can taste to your heart’s content. All five baguettes are currently available right now at Against the Grain. Until they are gone, of course.
As for the results of the tasting, I’m not sure I can even say which baguette was best. I’m pretty sure I was the real winner.
