Tag Archives: croissant

Cruising

The winner of the 2013 Croissant competition

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Le Fournil du Port, Paimpol.
This boulangerie produced the winning croissant
click to enlarge
We can now declare the winner of the Play d’eau Croissant Competition 2013.

Having cruised the beautiful coasts of north and west France and their hidden treasures of marinas for the last three months, we’ve tasted croissants in 22 ports from 31 boulangeries.

And the winner is…

‘Le Fournil du Port’ at Paimpol, north Brittany.

The margin by which Le Fournil won was considerable. In all criteria their croissants scored the highest.

To prove it wasn’t a baking fluke and that Le Fournil’s croissants consistently rose crisply to the challenge, we tried croissants from Le Fournil on five occasions.

Le Fournil is at the south end of Paimpol’s Bassin No 1.

Running order…

The first bite of the winning croissant
click to enlarge
The final running order was:

1st place (€0.88) – Le Fournil du Port, Paimpol
2nd place (€0.90) – Boulangerie Denigot, Port Louis, Lorient
3rd place (€0.95) – Boulangerie Founesant la Forêt, Port la Forêt
4th place (€0.23) – LIDL, Rochefort (yes, only 23 centimes)

Judging criteria

The judging criteria has been the same all along,

  • Does it look good?
  • As you bite, is the outside crispy?
  • Is it buttery?
  • Is the inside light, fresh and soft?
  • Do you glow with croissant pleasure?

Although the price was noted, it was not included as one of the criteria.

Was the inside light, fresh and soft?
click to enlarge

One question remains. How can we have hot, fresh supplies from Paimpol to Beaucette in time for breakfast?

Piers and Lin
From the Galley of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55

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Cruising

Croissant Competition – Summer 2013

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What do you think of these?
They come from two different bakeries
click to enlarge
How would you judge a good croissant?

Can you help? We’d love to know what you’d look for.

The baking hot question

Are all croissants the same? I mean, a croissant is a croissant is a croissant, n’est ce pas? Mais, peut-être pas.

One of the key elements of visiting France to which we really look forward, is our first croissant. That staple of all things French. Even more so than the Eiffel Tower, Pastis, or scary driving.

Imagine

Imagine it’s breakfast. The smell of baking is in the air. You’ve ordered, and you’re served a croissant straight from the wood oven. It’s hot and looks glorious.

Lift it to your nose. Breathe in the aroma. Prepare to take a bite…

Judging criteria

But how do you judge if it’s the best you’ve ever had?

What do think of this one?
click to enlarge
So far, we’ve visited over twenty ports during our three month cruise along the north and west coasts of France, and we’ve tried croissants from well over forty Boulangeries.

During this time, we’ve found croissants vary considerably from ‘Oh, yes!’ to ‘Oh, no!’ and ‘That’s a shame’.

Our judging criteria (so far) has been based on six facts,

  • Does it look good?
  • Is it the ‘right shape’?
  • As you bite, is the outside crispy and do bits of crust fly everywhere?
  • Is it buttery?
  • Is the inside light, fresh and soft?
  • Does it leave you glowing with croissant pleasure?
How would you judge the Croissant?

Please let us know how you’d judge a croissant. We’ll publish our winners at the end of September when we’ve returned home to Beaucette Marina, Guernsey.

Happy croissanting!

Piers and Lin
from the Galley of
Play d’eau
Fleming 55