July 6, 2012 - 7:17am
On french bread in the previous century
Just an interesting little article on what happened in French bread making from the perspective of a baker who watched it.
http://kottke.org/12/07/the-fall-and-rise-of-the-baguette
http://www.afar.com/afar/time-to-rise
I thought many here might appreciate reading it.
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Enjoyed the articles. As a native San Franciscan growing up in the 30s and 40s, I well remember the days when exquisite bread was commonplace -- Laraburu, Parisian, Franco-American, Royal , Bouidin. (Boudin is still around, though not, in my opinion, as good as some of those that are gone.) Parisian was so good they started selling a few loaves at San Francisco airport so travelers could take a loaf of real San Francisco sourdough home with them to Cleveland or Tuscaloosa. Soon they were selling thousands of loaves. Finally they started packaging it in tightly closed plastic wrap. That was the beginning of the end of good bread and the demise in sophistication of common taste. The artisan revival has seen a remergence of bread sophistication and appreciation that wa once commonplace. However, you have to look for it, and pay for it. People line up in late afternoon in San Francisco to nail a loaf of Tartine bread before they're all sold out. The olthers are all gone.
Baugettes arrived in Paris via Vienna beginning in 1923. Something about a bakers strike and the importation of Viennese bakers proved to be the catalyst. The steam deck oven arrived from Austria at about the same time. So, baugettes really aren't all that French per se...,
I agree that waiting in line at Tartines seems to have become more than a vogue thing. The people waiting in line are genuine about getting their "Tartine Fix". And I thought it would soon come to pass. For some reason it hasn't. Could it be that "romancing" taste buds is still a safe harbor for those having access to its secrets to purvey it...,?
Wild-Yeast