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According to French law, all baguettes must be made of only wheat flour, water, salt and yeast (source).

So, do Jews who keep kosher (and eat pas palter) in France eat baguettes from plain unsupervised boulangeries, and not require a hechsher?

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    Is that the only thing that goes in their ovens?
    – robev
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 3:37

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That is correct and many observant Jews eat this bread (I lived in France for five years). The same is true for many sorts of plain bread, not just baguette.

However one has to check that the oven is only used for plain bread and not for other specialties with cheese or meat, if the supports used in the oven are not covered with grease and if they use the remainder of (possibly non-kosher) pastries from the day before as yeast.

Baguettes are often cooked in special ovens and are therefore most likely to be kosher.

The official kosher product list from the French Consistoire mentions this on page L-32, right side under "Pain Français Courant".

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    As some might search for information here, on the contrary, all Italian breads (and often pizzas) are considered by default non-kosher, because they often contain lard (strutto), either in the dough or used for greasing the tray.
    – Kazi bácsi
    Commented Jul 24, 2020 at 6:07
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    @kouty: what does "a meme la sole" mean? (I am not Jewish and it may be a religious expression?). It sounds like the French "à même le sol" = "directly on the ground"
    – WoJ
    Commented Jul 25, 2020 at 11:07
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    Traditionnellement, le pain est cuit dans un four à bois une fois que les braises et les cendres sont retirées de la sole et que la chaleur est dégagée par les parois du four au fur et à mesure qu’elles refroidissent. @WoJ
    – kouty
    Commented Jul 25, 2020 at 17:47
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    The sole in French, in this context, is the part of the oven where one puts the food to be cooked. kouty means the bread is put on the oven directly, not on anything that might be used to cook other (possibly non-kosher) products cc @woj
    – mbloch
    Commented Jul 25, 2020 at 17:58
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    @Avraham yes there are routine inspections, and there is a principle in halacha that a professional is worried about losing his income if caught cheating, which gives us a reason to rely on him
    – mbloch
    Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 5:34

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