“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” – Robert Browning
Well said, Mr. Browning! We have been aching for an excuse to eat a whole bunch of delicious baguettes. And so began the hunt for the best baguette in Toronto‘s Leslieville, a neighbourhood dubbed by the Toronto Star as “Hipsterville East”. Lettucemeat correspondent, Terence “teeloo” Leung, judged seven local baguettes based on price, size, crust and inside.
The Perfect Baguette
These are the criteria we came up with:
- the crust has to be crunchy but not so hard to hurt your gums when you bite down
- it should have a light sprinkle of flour on the bottom to signify that it’s hand baked
- the inside should be light and have lots of large air bubbles throughout.
- if your sandwich filling squeezes out when you bite on the baguette, then the inside is too dense
REVIEWS
The Verdict
Our inaugural Leslieville baguette shootout had a clear winner: Blackbird Bakery (out of Kensington Market, but purchased at Andrea’s Bakery). The near-perfect Blackbird loaf was amazingly crispy on the outside and light and airy inside. Close runners ups were from Brick Street and St. John’s.
Nom nom nom! Next, perhaps a West-end Toronto baguette shootout!
