Ammon News - In a big surprise, a baker from Sri Lanka clinched the prestigious prize for best traditional French baguette, which comes with a €4,000 prize and the right to supply the Elysée Palace with fresh loaves every morning, according to The Telegraph.

Sithamparappillai Jegatheepan, 43, works at the Fournil Didot bakery. He is Sri Lankan, and so are his two deputy bakers.
“It was a big surprise. It was my first time and I won straight away. I’m very proud,” he told The Telegraph.

Every year since 1994, the city of Paris and the Greater Paris Bakers’ Union convene to elect the grand prix de la baguette de tradition française de la ville de Paris (grand prize for the traditional French baguette of Paris).

A jury of experts, councilors, aficionados and laymen munch through hundreds of loaves from among the capital’s 1,100 boulangeries, before homing in on a winner.

The rules are strict.

Each baguette has to weigh between 250 and 270g, measure between 50 and 55 centimeters, and not exceed a salt content of 1.4 grams per 100 grams. Some 29 bakeries were disqualified this year.

The best baguettes, he said, have a crisp crust and a regular “honeycomb” crumb inside, with small, evenly distributed holes rather than large gaps followed by dense patches.