The baguette finally gets the recognition it derives from UNESC, but where did the unique long, skinny design come from? Greggs is doing good around the nation. Obsessive baking is causing relationship issues. And one woman’s awful ‘healthy’ fairy bread has caused considerable consternation in Australia, a reliable source of some of the planet’s craziest bread stories. Here’s the news.

Three baguette theories  

When did the famous French baguette originate, and why the shape? Oddly, it’s a mystery. Some say the bread style, which has just been added to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, was created for Napoleon’s army as a simple way to bake bread in the basic brick ovens that were hastily assembled on the battlefield.

Others say the baguette began life in a Viennese bakery, in Paris, during the 1830s, an idea proposed by the artillery officer and entrepreneur August Zang. He believed they’d be easier for the women who sold bread from carts in the streets to handle.

There’s even a theory around the building of the Paris underground rail network. Workers from across France were brought in to dig the tunnels, and they used to fight violently with the knives they used to cut their bread. To make working life safer an engineer decided to order long, thin loaves that didn’t need cutting with a knife.

Whatever its origins, President Macron has eloquently described the baguette as ‘250 grams of magic and perfection’.

Greggs discount bakeries spread across the UK

As the cost of living crisis bites, Greggs’ discount bakeries are stepping in with as much as 75% off normal prices. So far they’ve opened 30 of their discount stores, mostly in the north of the UK, with an aim of opening a total of 50 such outlets by 2025. Greggs hopes that selling day-old unsold products at a reduced price will help families on a tight budget spend less on great quality food.

Social media user’s fury at bread-obsessed boyfriend

Be careful what you wish for. While it’s perfectly OK to become a keen baker, there’s a limit to the obsession. One baker’s partner is furious because all he does is bake bread, leaving no time for her. All he ever talks about is bread. He’s constantly baking, often with four or five loaves on the go at once. And he doesn’t clean up after himself. The people at the social network Reddit’s Relationship Advice Forum decided it was a time management issue, not a problem with the baking itself.    

The pleasures of healthy bread Down Under

There’s always a good crop of Aussie bread stories to share. This time around we’ve found a particularly tasty one. Apparently one Australian mum has come up with a recipe for ‘healthy’ fairy bread that’s so horrid it’s making her fellow countrymen ‘reach for the vomit bags’.

Fairy Bread is a ‘treat’ made from buttered white bread covered in hundreds and thousands, about as far from artisan bakery as it gets. The lady in question decided purple cabbage and carrots were a good, healthy alternative to the hundreds and thousands, shredded then squeezed to get rid of the excess juice. Then she coated some shredded coconut with the veggie juice and air dried it.

Yum? Perhaps not. The TikTok video, as you might expect, attracted an awe inspiring 4.5 million views, most of which ‘absolutely slammed’ the recipe.

Goodbye to Burgen bread

Fans of Allied Bakeries’ Burgen bread will miss its nutty flavour. The bakery has stopped production of Burgen bread, having re-launched it three times in just five years. Apparently Twitter revealed the bread has been discontinued, after a customer noticed it had disappeared from the shelves at Sainsbury’s.

Buying nitrous oxide is as easy as ‘buying a loaf of bread’

Police and medical experts in the West Midlands have warned the public about inhaling nitrous oxide, a craze that’s seeing more people than ever landing in hospital. Pre-pandemic it was a rarity, now it’s surging in popularity – not helped by the fact that, as the police say, you can buy it in corner shops as easily as you can buy a loaf of bread.

Treat yourself to a festive artisan bread tasting session

Are you in foodservice? As experienced artisan bakers we’re proud of our wares, described as delicious by everyone who experiences them. Why not treat yourself to a free box of samples, see if they’d suit your end customers? Just be careful – you might get hooked 😉