What makes French bread French?
I made French bread for the first time today, and it turned out great. At least I think it turned out great; I have never had good French bread from a bakery. The crumb was somewhat tighter than I would like, but the flavor was awesome. The recipe calls for a total of 4-6 hours of rising at 70 degrees, but it was much, much warmer than that in the house this morning, and we were eating the bread for lunch by the time it should have been finishing its second rise. The crust stayed nice and crisp, which was also a bonus. The dough was rather moist and slack, so the loaves spread out a lot during the final rise, even though I tried the bunched-up kitchen towel trick. It was a bit difficult kneading the moist dough; I have been doing more and more of my mixing by hand lately.
So my question is, what makes French bread French? It has the same ingredients as Ciabatta, which is Italian and has a totally different flavor and texture. Is it called French bread simply because it is made in France, or is there another reason?
Comments
Hi
The French are VERY proud of their bread. Authentic French bread is made with French flour. This is milled quite differently to US/UK specifications, and has properties unique to where it is grown. Additionally, the French have developed a breadmaking process suited to their own domestic wheat. In the UK, historically, we have imported wheat from the colonies which grow the best quality: North America comes to mind.
So, French wheat is very different to North American wheat, and the breadmaking process is adapted accordingly.
I don't want to criticise Italian bread; some of it ranks among the finest in the world [see Leader on Pane d'Alta Mura and Gensano] but I'm not sure the national bread is so dependent upon the domestic wheatflour, if that makes sense.
This is a shame, as many would consider Italy to have one of the most perfect climates in the world today...certainly for growing the finest of foods
Best wishes
Andy
I think this diagram gives some idea of the variety of regional breads in France:
http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/bread.jpg
(from one of Lionel Poilane's books on bread - not sure which one).
Some are doubtless borne from local ingredients, while others clearly reflect influences from other countries.
I'm sure a similar map could be drawn for Italian bread.
When I make French Bread, there are two things, besides the long rise at a 65 or 70 degree temperature that Julia Child prescribes, that I pay attention to. One is the difference in wheat, as discussed by Ananda above. The other is that French bakers don't use oil or butter in the bread bowl while the dough is rising. They believe (and I have come to agree) that the dough needs a 'foot', that little extra stickiness in the dough while it's rising. This keeps the components of the dough accessible to the yeast, which I see as distinctly 'French'.
I was horrified to find out when watching a bread based TV prog on the BBC to discover that Ciabatta was only "invented" in the 1980's!.......probably Italian bread before then was forgettable!", also, remember Italians eat pizza and pasta for their filling "stodge"....so maybe bread was not so as importante. Historically bread was important to the french, especially as white baguettes were favoured by the rich folks over the dark satanic miches we all slave to reproduce now!... Cheers, Steve
I just stumbled upon this interesting discussion which seems to address the question you raised.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/14785/100-whole-wheat-french-bread-it-worth-effort
Many thanks to all of you who have commented on my post, and to any others who might share their wisdom with me!