A duel of taste shock between Soissons and Laon. This Tuesday, April 2, the Atelier de Raphaël bakery in Soissons took on the Mercier bakery in Laon in the show “The best bakery in France” broadcast on M6. With a 0.1 point lead, the Laon boutique narrowly won the duel, qualifying for the regional final.
During the show, the two bakeries were judged by the best worker in France, Bruno Cormerais, and the head chef, Noëmie Honiat. Four criteria were evaluated: the welcome and decoration of the store, their signature product, their special bread and the completion of the jury’s challenge.
A victory by a tenth
If the creation of the favorite product and the original creation caused no problem for the Soissonnais team, the situation was not the same for the jury’s challenge, as Clément Brun, co-manager of the Atelier de Raphael: “ I didn’t know about waterzoï soup at all. This ordeal went very quickly. We only had about ten minutes to create the recipe. This dish comes from Belgium, so I opted for country bread with northern beer to recall the region’s drink and enhance the taste. »
Laon resident Simon Mercier also found this test quite difficult, even if his citrus “Pep’s” bread won over the jury. “ What was complicated was making good, beautiful bread when we only had two hours to make it. This is just in time for fermentation. “, he says. The challenge was nevertheless won with the excellent score of 9.5/10 awarded by the two jurors.
“I found all the jury’s criticisms constructive and I will of course take them into account”
Following the final challenge, both teams were able to discover their overall average. An extremely close score: 8.5/10 for the Mercier bakery compared to 8.4/10 for Raphaël’s Workshop. “ It remains a great victory for us. We were able to showcase our know-how and our quality homemade products », confides Clément Brun.
“ What I remember most is that we had a great time with my team, smiles Simon Mercier. Our bakery, our know-how and our city were highlighted and that’s really what I was looking for by participating in this show. »
But the adventure does not stop there for the Laon baker, he will participate this Friday April 5 at the regional final of the best bakery in Hauts-de-France. During this show, the jury will announce their favorite of the week and the winner will be selected to participate in the national final.
