France sets record for world’s longest baguette, beats Italy after five years

For the last five years, Italy has held the record for the world’s longest baguette and a group of French bakers, on Sunday (May 5) succeeded in changing that. A group of bakers in the French town of Suresnes, a commune in the suburbs of Paris, reclaimed the record of one of the nation’s best-known emblems taken by Italy five years ago.

About the record

On Sunday, around a dozen bakers gathered for the Suresnes Baguette Show organised with the Confédération Nationale de la Boulangerie-Pâtisserie Française et Nutella, managed to beat the world record for the longest baguette, with a loaf measuring 140.53 metres.

The preparation for the record-setting loaf began at 3:00 am (local time) in the hopes of beating the 132.62-metre record set by the Italians on June 16, 2019, and after 14 hours it was a success.

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After the kneading and shaping of the dough began in the middle of the night, it was placed in a specially built slow-moving oven on wheels. The baguette, made by the French bakers, is said to be 235 times longer than the traditional one.

“Everything has been validated, we are all very happy to have beaten this record and that it was done in France,” Anthony Arrigault, one of the bakers, said after the baguette was approved by a Guinness World Records judge, as quoted by Reuters.

[🥖🇨🇵#Suresnesbaguetteshow]
Derniers mètres de baguette avant la fin de la cuisson. Le suspense est à son comble pour la validation du record 🤞💪!@cnbpf @FerreroFr @NutellaFR pic.twitter.com/Jx6RcmDnrs — Ville de Suresnes (@villedesuresnes) May 5, 2024

A part of the record-breaking baguette, which according to the guidelines had to be at least five centimetres thick throughout, was shared with the public and the rest was to be given to homeless people in Suresnes

“The dough will be kneaded, shaped on site, and then baked in front of the public in a rolling oven under a tent,” said the organisers in a statement ahead of the event.

It added, “It will be made according to the rules of the art, with wheat flour, water, yeast and salt as the only ingredients.”

‘Bringing the record home’

It is also worth noting that both world records for creating the longest French-origin bread were held by Italy.

The record five years ago came after the title of longest baguette was held by a 122-metre loaf baked at the Milan Expo in 2015.

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Since both the records were held by Italy, the objective was “bringing the record home,” said the organisers, according to the town’s website.

(With inputs from agencies)