Hi Don:

You are making my mouth water thinking of those wonderful po-boy's in New Orleans... spent much time there as my company had a branch off the levee and I ate po-boys for lunch everyday (roast beef and wet of course).  I have been trying for a while to duplicate their french bread but have fallen short.....I don't know if you can duplicate what comes out of those old brick ovens. The autolyse and wet dough will definately give you the holes you are looking, however matching the taste may be another quest.  Welcome to the forum.

Wayne

I was actually looking online at plans to build my own brick oven. That's how bad its gotten. LOL

I thought I had found some rolls here in town that were close until my dad sent me 6 loafs of Reisings for Mardi Gras. The local bread was not as close as I had made myself belive that it was. Now I'm rationing the last half a loaf...

Take it from someone who's been trying to do exactly what you are trying to do, but for at least the last year.

I have used the recipe in John Folse's encyclopedia to cajun and creole cooking.  I've tried the 3 page recipe in "The New Orleans Cookbook".  I've tried and tried and tried.

I will say this....the closest I've ever come to making real poboy bread is filling a pan on the lower rack of the oven with boiling water just before placing the risen dough into the oven.  That helped create a good bit of steam without having to open the door up constantly to use a spray bottle.

Also, you have to look for high quality, high protein bread flour.  The New Orleans bakeries have their flour milled to their specifications which may be the reason we might never truly duplicate it.

I once brought a bottle of New Orleans tap water home with me to see if that would make a difference (see....I'm obsessed too).  It did change it slightly.

I use a couple of tablespoons of vital wheat gluten in my flour mixture.  I also sometimes use Steen's pure cane syrup instead of just sugar. 

Leidenheimer uses a sponge technique to make their bread (I don't think Binder's does though).  Sandy Whann of Leidenheimer's says that there are no short cuts that you can take to make their bread.  There's a method of the sponge, and letting it rest for a few hours, then baking the dough, and resting, and kneading and resting, and separating and resting, and forming and resting. 

There's a recipe in one of Frank Davis' cookbooks that I'll try next.  I will say this, I have managed to get the crust just about right when using the boiling water in the pan technique I mentioned (Oh....and I also let my dough proof inside the oven - turned off of course during the initial proofing stage - with the boiling water in the pan.  this helps keep the dough very moist and warm throughout the entire proofing process).

Where I've failed, is that the crumb has never been exactly right and I'm not sure I ever could get it right.  I must be missing something in my technique or ingredients.  And the flavor hasn't been right on either.  It's good....and makes for a pretty good poboy in its own right, but it's not "it" yet.

I'll keep trying though.  and I'll give any other input as I continue to learn.  I've read just about everything that google can supply me with on New Orleans french bread.

Let me know if you have any break throughs as well.

Wayne - Tennessee

I, too, am similarly obsessed. I've tried much of what Wayne (from Tennessee) has tried. In addition I tried the recipe in John Folse's Cajun-Creole cooking Encylopedia. It calles for Steen's syrup instead of sugar. It also calls for 1) Bread flour 2) Bread machine flour, 3) High gluten wheat flour. I think this is an effort to get the protein level correct. This gave me the best results (once, maybe twice). I get bread that is tasty, and is lighter than the baguettes that are available, but not light enough.

The attempt at using NO tap water is interesting. Did the chlorine content affect the yeast?

Phil -- New Orleans native displaced in Georgia

eMail Danno of http://www.nolacuisine.com and see if he got a recipe to work out. He mentions working on one in his Muffaletta bread recipe.

 Rob - a Georgia native in process of relocating to New Orleans

Leidenheimer's bakery makes the best poboy bread.  They use a tunnel oven.  I've been trying to duplicate poboy bread for awhile but not much luck.  Had lunch on Bourbon street last weekend.  They brought a hot loaf of leidenheimer french bread to the table in a paper bag.  It was wonderful.  the crust was crispy,  the crumb was light.  It was like a souflee.  It's like the holy grail of bread making.  We need to find this recipe. 

Gonna be in NO next week. You know I'll be filling up on some bread...okay filling up on LOTS of stuff, but bread is in there! In fact, I'll be bringing as much poboy bread home on the plane with me as I can. I'm packing light and saving room for shrimp, poboy bread and maybe some CDM coffee in my checked baggage.

I'm an addict. I know. 

I grew up in Slidell and now live in Atlanta, GA 

I am also looking for the New Orleans French secrets, but really have not attempted to bake my own.  I have mastered the King cake and Beignets.  My Beignets are the best in Atlanta (compared to restaurants). 

Phil and Rob,

There is a Po'Boy shop near Grant Park that has GOOD Po'Boys made on imported Leidenheimer's bread.  I had my first Po'Boy (shrimp) there last week.  Theirs is the best that I have tasted in Atlanta.  I just wish they had a Muffaletta.  There is a place in Tucker (Rotagilla) that serves a Muffaletta COLD!  Yuk.  The Tucker place also seems to use a low quality of meats.

 The Grant Park Po'Boy shop is called Just Loaf'n (address below).  The PoBoy was great and I want to try the Roast beef next time.  I hear the gumbo is sub-par.  I thought the Red Beans and rice were just ok.

 I think I will go back and attempt to buy some bread.

313 Boulevard Se
Atlanta, GA 30312
(404) 525-4001