Dominique Anract, a baker in Paris's 16th arrondissement, sells about 1,500 baguettes every day, and most of them he wouldn't want to eat himself, reports The Walls Street Journal.
The vast majority of his customers, he says, choose the whitest, least-baked baguette on display. So he and his team take 90% of the loaves out of the oven before they are done.
"If those were for me, we'd keep them all in two to three minutes longer," he says. "But that's not my call—it's the customer's."
One of the great symbols of French gastronomy is under siege. Renowned for its distinctive shape and crusty exterior, the baguette risks becoming known for something else, too: being undercooked and doughy.
Rémi Héluin, the founder of Painrisien, a blog about Parisian bakeries, estimates that 80% of the 230 shops he has reviewed underbake most of their baguettes. "They've got to keep the customer satisfied," he says.
Patrons have plenty of reasons for their preference—and they're not necessarily half-baked. For Camille Oger, a 30-year-old freelance reporter, eating a well-baked baguette can be a painful experience. "It's hard to munch," she says, "and it hurts your gums and palate." Less-baked loaves "won't break your teeth," she adds.
Pura Garcia, a retiree and a regular at Mr. Anract's bakery, says a well-done baguette gets stale way too quickly. "If you don't eat it within the hour, it'll feel like it's a day old," she says. Many other customers say they ask for a "white baguette" because it will taste better reheated at home.
The shift in public taste has sparked some outrage in a country so synonymous with the thin, elongated stick.
"Crustiness is the trademark of French bread," says Jean-Philippe de Tonnac, a French writer and bread enthusiast. "It won't be as good if it's not well baked."
Read more of this report from The Wall Street Journal.