Baguettes from the Placid Baker
The Capital Region has no shortage of great bakeries, each with at least one thing they do better than anyone else around. Many of them have been profiled on AOA, such as:
+ Mrs. London's classic croissants
+ Crisan's fanciful sweet treats.
+ All Good Bakers and their mean grilled cheese.
+ TC Bakery's meticulously-made macarons.
+ Bella Napoli's excellent donuts (just not the glazed ones).
+ Fluffalicious's cupcakes, especially the buttercream part of their cupcakes.
+ Eastern Parkway Price Chopper's flour dusted bialys.
But there is also a great bakery in Troy that makes great croissants, sweets (including macarons), sandwiches, and breads that has gone without praise for far too long. Where's the love for The Placid Baker?
Well, let me tell you what makes their baguette my favorite in the region.
When did crusty bread lose its crust?
I'm not kidding. The elongated loaves that try to pass for baguettes in most places are anemic shadows of the form. All you have to do is give their sides a squeeze and feel the crust yield under gentle pressure. Baguette crust does not yield. Baguette crust holds firm. If it does succumb to pressure, it cracks or breaks with shards of crumbs cascading in every direction.
With real crusty bread you have to be careful, especially when it's a 22-inch long baguette. You could hurt somebody with that thing. And if you aren't mindful about chewing, that somebody could be you. Because crusty bread can have sharp jagged edges that can pierce the roof of your mouth.
This is bread that commands your respect. Even if its outsides are a little rustic looking and flour dusted like the loaves produced at The Placid Baker. This is serious bread.
Biting through the substantial crust you get to the crumb within. This is surprising because there is clearly some amount of whole wheat flour in the dough, but there are plenty of air pockets to keep it on the lighter side and the whole wheat flour adds to the grainy, savory, and satisfying flavor.
But the thing that puts this loaf over the top is that if you can to the bakery shortly after 10 am your baguette will be warm from the oven. Then you may just have to buy two. One to eat immediately, and one for later in the day.
The downside is that these loaves aren't cheap. Two of them set me back a total of $7. That may not seem like a lot, but that's about twice the price at famous boulangerie during a recent trip to Paris. But wine and cheese are also less expensive there, too. (For what it's worth, we can apparently get a much better deal on iPads here in our region than you can in France.)
I could eat the baguette from the Placid Baker for every meal. Spread it with butter and maybe some jam for breakfast. Tuck some meat and olive spread inside it for lunch. Eat it alongside cheese and a bottle of wine for dinner. Any bread that was left over could be turned into French toast, savory bread pudding, a thickening agent for soups, or even simply breadcrumbs.
Bread should never go to waste. Because even when it gets hard, it's good for something. And when it's this good, you want to eat every bit.
Daniel B. is the proprietor of the FUSSYlittleBLOG.
Find It
The Placid Baker
250 Broadway
Troy, NY 12180
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Comments
a Placid Baker croissants was one of the last items i ate before having to give up wheat for health reasons. it was delicious and brought me back to Paris. Placid also makes these delicious "flat breads" that are excellent avec fromage.
go eat placid now.
... said colleen on Jan 8, 2013 at 12:16 PM | link
I couldn't agree more. This is the only local baguette I'm willing to buy and it is worth the price. A hunk of this with some good salt butter is heaven. And if you don't want to drive to Troy, a batch of these baguettes is delivered to the Honest Weight food co-op Saturday mornings, I believe.
... said chrisck on Jan 8, 2013 at 12:20 PM | link
One of the things I miss the most when I'm dieting is the bread from Placid Baker. Their products are truly high quality, better than stuff I've had in Paris. Their pre-made sandwiches are delicious as well, and although the combinations seem unusual (and I'm finicky) just try them, you will love them
... said Jeff on Jan 8, 2013 at 12:34 PM | link
The baguettes I had in Paris recently were around € .80 or $1. People buy them by the arm load. Perhaps it's an economy of scale thing. All I know is that at $3.50 a pop I can't afford to eat bread like a Parisian.
... said Luke on Jan 8, 2013 at 3:42 PM | link
i recommend eating a baguette w/the interesting hummus made in house - i was recently turned onto both the carrot and butternut squash varieties... delish
... said karamia on Jan 8, 2013 at 4:47 PM | link
I have not eaten Placid Baker baguettes though I plan to after reading your writeup. But a few words of clarification about baguettes.
Most decent baguettes will be crusty, hard and brittle soon after they have been taken out of the oven, soften noticeably over the next few hours (much so if they are in any way sheltered from the air), then start hardening till they are the consistency of a baseball bat the next day. The "shattering" you describe is more typical of a Vietnamese roll which is due to the fact it contains 10-20% rice flour. I'll bet my nougats PB is using rice flour if this is an accurate description.
The baguette-shaped objects you see in supermarkets are not baguettes. They're long hoagie rolls. It's easy to poke fun at the pretense but they're essentially harmless because they are just another local loaf made from the formula in the bakery.
The baguettes you refer to that are currently sold in Paris are a much more serious travesty. Unless you are pretty discriminating you will get something that is way overprocessed to create a fluffy, brittle product at the expense of complexity and taste. Any serious baker will tell you decent baguettes are hard to come by (though not impossible) in Paris today.
Maybe you visited Anis Bouabsa or one of the other bakers who are doing it right. But I am guessing from other descriptions of your trip that you ended up with a specimen that was, as we say in Texas, all hat and no cattle.
... said Burnt My Fingers on Jan 9, 2013 at 6:15 PM | link
I've been a long time fan of the Crown Point Bread co. as well.
... said Joseph on Jan 9, 2013 at 8:17 PM | link
You are so right, Daniel. My mouth is watering from the photos! They sell at the Tuesday delmar farmer's market also. The whole loaf rarely gets home without a heel or two missing.
... said enough already! on Jan 10, 2013 at 2:22 PM | link
I stand corrected -- the baguettes are delivered to the Honest Weight Food co-op on Fridays. They also sell The Placid Baker's most excellent ciabatta.
... said chrisck on Jan 10, 2013 at 2:44 PM | link
couldnt agree more...the only thing better is a Placid Baker baguette with some Buddapesto! Like Mr. Food used to say....Its sooooo good
... said jake on Jan 10, 2013 at 4:11 PM | link