The best pain au chocolat in the world can be found in Toulouse

Forget your full English and your maple syrup pancakes – the French know how to do breakfast properly. Call it a pain au chocolat or a chocolatine (more of which later), delicious chocolate encased inside buttery pastry is a great way to start the day. 

And a 29-year-old from Gers makes the very best in the world, it turns out, having just been named World Champion of Pain au Chocolat/Chocolatine. The diplomatically-named competition – Coupe du Monde de la Chocolatine /Pain au Chocolat – is so-called so as not to offend anyone, as people in the southwest, including in Toulouse where the competition was held, hotly defend the term chocolatine, while the rest of France insists on pain au chocolat. 

This year’s event, which was judged by 18 industry professionals, brought 20 bakers from 12 countries, including Cameroon, Canada, Lebanon and Vietnam, and was won by Frenchman Dimitri Bordon, who works at D’Apprêt Nous, a bakery in the Toulouse suburb of Cugnaux. Fellow Frenchman Tom Jean came second and Mirko Zenatti, from Italy, took third place. 

In front of an audience of about 100 onlookers, the bakers had to make 24 pastries, 12 of them according to a traditional recipe and 12 with a personal twist, such as Bordon’s creation using chocolate, orange, mandarin, yuzu and Sechuan pepper. Delicious, whatever name it goes by. 

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Lead photo credit : Delicious pastries awaiting judgment in the world pain au chocolat competition, Photo: Coupe du Monde de la Chocolatine _Facebook