Baguette

A baguette is a long thin loaf of French bread that is commonly made from basic lean dough. It is distinguishable by its length and crisp crust. A baguette has a diameter of about 5 or 6 centimetres and a usual length of about 65 centimetres, although a baguette can be up to a metre long.

There are a lot of types of baguettes, for example:  corn, white, cheese, and the traditional "parisienne". Everything depends on region where the baguettes are made. Typical baguette is made from flour, water, sourdough and salt. 

Baguettes are generally made as partially free-form loaves, with the loaf formed with a series of folding and rolling motions, raised in cloth-lined baskets or in rows on a flour-impregnated towel, called a couche, and baked either directly on the hearth of a deck oven or in special perforated pans designed to hold the shape of the baguette while allowing heat through the perforations. American-style "French bread" is generally much fatter and is not baked in deck ovens, but in convection ovens.

Nowadays French people eat 58 kilograms of baguettes per year and it's 5 times less than they used to eat 100 years ago. In France, baguettes are eaten often with jam or pâté and should be serve on every meal.  Polish baguettes are different in taste. They're not so much delicate inside as they are in France.

Epiphany

On Epiphany (Three Kings' Day) in France people share a type of king cake. The cake is called a galette des Rois, and is a round, flat, and golden cake made with flake pastry and often filled with frangipane, fruit, or chocolate. It contains a charm, usually a porcelain or plastic figurine, called a fève (bean in French).

The cake is cut by the youngest (and therefore most innocent) person at the table to assure that the founder of the figurine is random. The person who gets the piece of cake with the surprise becomes "king" or "queen" and wears a paper crown provided with the cake. This person has a choice between offering a beverage to everyone around the table (usually a sparkling wine or champagne), or volunteering to host the next king cake at their home. This is really delicious and worth tasting!

Christmas in France

In France, Santa Claus is called Père Noël. In eastern France he is accompanied by Le Pere Fouettard, a man dressed in black. He might be the same person as Zwarte Piet in The Netherlands.

The main Christmas meal, called "Réveillon", is eaten on Christmas Eve after people have returned from the midnight Church Service. Dishes might include roast turkey with chestnuts or roast goose, oysters, foie gras, lobster, venison and cheeses. For dessert, a chocolate sponge cake log called a "bûche de Noël" is normally eaten. It reminds a real log burned in people's homes from Christmas Eve until New Years Day to forget about the past.

Yule Logs made out of Cherry Wood are often burned in French homes. The log is carried into the home on Christmas Eve and is sprinkled with red wine to make the log smell nice when it is burning. There is a custom that the log and candles are left burning all night with some food and drinks left out in case Mary and the baby Jesus come past during the night.

Another celebration, in some parts of France, is that 13 different desserts are eaten! All the desserts are made from different types of fruit, nuts and pastries.

In France it is a time for the whole family to come together at Christmas time to holiday and worship. On the eve of Christmas beautifully lit churches and cathedrals, ring out Christmas carols with the church bells.

French children set out their shoes in hopes that "le petit Jesus" will fill them during the night with small gifts.