titley@btnix.UUCP (Nigel Titley) (03/10/86)
My wife is French, we live in England. She very much misses being able
to buy proper French bread (what they call French bread over here is
just ordinary white "english" bread, made up into the baguette shape).
The characteristics of french bread appear to be:
1) Good crunchy golden crust
2) More open texture
3) Slightly more salty
4) Goes stale very quickly
Given these differences we decided there are several differences in the
manufacturing process. We postulate the following:
1) Soft wheat flour instead of hard wheat
2) Once proved instead of twice
3) More salt
4) Egg glaze on crust
5) Rapid, high temperature (gas mark 9) baking
Attempts to make it have only proved to be a partial success (I can
manage normal white bread without a problem).
The question is, does anyone out there in netland know anything that
might help us?
Mail me and I'll summarise if anything comes of it.
Nigel Titley
..ukc!btnix!titleyliz@unirot.UUCP (Mamaliz ) (03/13/86)
In article <43@btnix.UUCP> titley@btnix.UUCP (Nigel Titley) writes: > The characteristics of french bread appear to be: > > 1) Good crunchy golden crust > 2) More open texture > 3) Slightly more salty > 4) Goes stale very quickly > > > The question is, does anyone out there in netland know anything that > might help us? > I am posting this, as I get asked this question a lot, and I figure it is probably of general interest. I make french bread regularly, sometimes 8 or 9 loaves a day (depending on number of house guests). Real bread (let alone real french bread) contains no sugar. Real French bread contains no fat, or eggs or anything but flour yeast salt water. Lizzy's French Bread (derived from Jeannette Seaver's "Jeanette's Secrets of Everyday Good Cooking") 1/2 cup warm water 2 packages active dry yeast (you can use less if you bake a lot (wild yeast spores in kitchen) or have time for a slower rising). 2 1/4 cups warm water 7 cups flour (I find that what is marked as "Bread flour" works better then an all-purpose flour). 2 tablespoons salt some cornmeal Amateur's recipe: Proof yeast in the smaller amount of water (might as well put this in the bowl you will be mixing the bread in). After the yeast is proofed (proofed means that you have proved that it is alive -- it will smell good and look foamy) add the rest of the water and enough flour to make a really wet sloppy batter (you are not going to stick your hands in it). Put this in a warm, draft-free place in your kitchen (cover it with something porous like a dishtowel and keep it away from the cats). Let it sit for at least 3 hours while it traps wild yeasts and rises. Stir this mess down and add the rest of the flour and the salt. You might have to change the amount of flour...use as much as you need to make a kneadable dough. I always need more...maybe your flour is dryer then mine and you will need less. Knead the dough until you can't stand it anymore (at least 5 minutes. Kneading is fun, if you want to knead more, don't worry. Let the dough rest while you wash out the bowl you mixed it in and pick up another bowl of about the same size. Cut the dough in two pieces, put each piece in a bowl (two bowls now), cover with the dishtowels again, and put away to rise until doubled. Punch down the dough, knead a little bit more and shape. This recipe supposedly makes 6 short baguettes, but I have never had any luck with this. I just make two round loaves. Put these loaves on cookie sheets covered with cornmeal and let rise again (preferably until doubled, if the time element does not allow doubling, at least an hour). Bake at 450 until done (this is different for each shape of loaf, I usually bake for around 40 minutes). Expert recipe: Make a sponge with water, yeast and small amount of flour. Let sponge rise until you are ready for it. Add rest of flour and salt. Knead, 2 risings, bake at 450 until done.
jeff@rtech.UUCP (Jeff Lichtman) (03/14/86)
> > > My wife is French, we live in England. She very much misses being able > to buy proper French bread (what they call French bread over here is > just ordinary white "english" bread, made up into the baguette shape). > ... > Attempts to make it have only proved to be a partial success (I can > manage normal white bread without a problem). > > The question is, does anyone out there in netland know anything that > might help us? > > Nigel Titley The secret is water. French bread should be made with lots of water. When you bake it, put a pan of hot water on the rack just below the bread. It also helps to spray or brush water on the loaf a couple of times as it's baking. I wouldn't use an egg glaze on the crust. It will tend to make the crust too soft. Both eggs and milk tend to destroy the texture of French bread. The *only* liquid that should come in contact with the flour is water. -- Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) "Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent..." {amdahl, sun}!rtech!jeff {ucbvax, decvax}!mtxinu!rtech!jeff
ed@mtxinu.UUCP (03/15/86)
In article <155@rtech.UUCP> jeff@rtech.UUCP (Jeff Lichtman) writes: >The secret is water. French bread should be made with lots of water. >When you bake it, put a pan of hot water on the rack just below the bread. >It also helps to spray or brush water on the loaf a couple of times as >it's baking. How true! Commercial bakeries use steam injection ovens to get a good crust on the bread. -- Ed Gould mt Xinu, 2910 Seventh St., Berkeley, CA 94710 USA {ucbvax,decvax}!mtxinu!ed +1 415 644 0146 "A man of quality is not threatened by a woman of equality."
smuga@mtuxo.UUCP (j.smuga) (03/17/86)
> > The secret is water. French bread should be made with lots of water. > When you bake it, put a pan of hot water on the rack just below the bread. > Yep, I do that too, and it works fine. > I wouldn't use an egg glaze on the crust. It will tend to make the crust > too soft. Both eggs and milk tend to destroy the texture of French bread. > The *only* liquid that should come in contact with the flour is water. Not true. I get a terrific crunchy crust with my egg white glaze: a frothy egg white mixed with a tbs. of water, brushed on just before baking in a 400 degree oven, and again after 20 minutes. > -- > Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Janet Smuga I've had a great many troubles in my time, ihnp4!mtuxo!smuga and most of them never happened. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
manson@utecfc.UUCP (Bob Manson) (03/18/86)
******************************************* When making French bread, I place a couple of small baking pans in the oven as it is being pre-heated. When I put the bread in the oven, I throw an ice cube or two in one of the pans to produce steam. A little while later, I throw some in the other pan. (It would probably be better to get a container which would retain the heat better than the thin aluminum pans, but the method seems to work for me.) Bob Manson University of Toronto
tombre@crin.UUCP (03/18/86)
In article <155@rtech.UUCP> jeff@rtech.UUCP writes: > >The secret is water. French bread should be made with lots of water. >When you bake it, put a pan of hot water on the rack just below the bread. >It also helps to spray or brush water on the loaf a couple of times as >it's baking. > (-: Do not forget to use *French* water. To make french bread, everything must be french, including the water. But seriously, folks, french bread only makes sense when you at the same time have 'cuisine francaise', french wine, french cheese, and so on. It is part of a whole. My advice : if you want to eat french bread, come and live in France! :-) -- --- Karl Tombre @ CRIN (Centre de Recherche en Informatique de Nancy) UUCP: ...!vmucnam!crin!tombre or ...!inria!crin!tombre COSAC: crin/tombre POST: Karl Tombre, CRIN, B.P. 239, 54506 VANDOEUVRE CEDEX, France Les plus desesperes sont les chants les plus beaux, Et j'en sais d'immortels qui sont de purs sanglots. Alfred de Musset.
irene@epistemi.UUCP (Irene Orr) (03/19/86)
You can't make this sort of crusty bread at home - the crust on bought bread is made by injecting steam into the oven early in the baking process (see Elizabeth David). Your best bet is an Italian baker locally or a specialist baker in London. E. David recommends baking the bread at a high temperature in an enclosed space for a good crust - you put the bread on a baking sheet and invert a large, heat-proof container over the bread for the first 20 mins or so. This is only partially successful, though. I can't recall the name of her bokk, but it's in Penguin paperback & features the word "bread" in the title, Irene Orr (irene@epistemi)
flowers@ucla-cs.ARPA (Margot Flowers) (03/23/86)
In order to increase the water vapor in the oven to ensure a crispy crust, Julia Child on one of her shows said to use a (clean, new) garden sprayer/atomizer filled with water to open the oven and spray water mist into the oven every N minutes. I don't remember what N was. You could also used plant mister I suppose.
pete@stc.UUCP (03/25/86)
Summary: Expires: Sender: Followup-To: Distribution: Keywords: Xref: ukc net.wanted:6957 net.cooks:209 Xpath: ukc eagle In article <10096@ucla-cs.ARPA> flowers@ucla-cs.UUCP (Margot Flowers) writes: > >In order to increase the water vapor in the oven to ensure a crispy >crust, Julia Child on one of her shows said to use a (clean, new) >garden sprayer/atomizer filled with water to open the oven and spray >water mist into the oven every N minutes. I don't remember what N was. >You could also used plant mister I suppose. I tried the steam trick for the first time over the weekend with a batch of granary rolls. I put a couple of cake tins half-full of boiled water in the oven and got a pretty good crust. This sounds like less trouble than the spray method. (I'm a *lazy* baker!) -- Peter Kendell <pete@stc.UUCP> ...!mcvax!ukc!stc!pete "We're standing here, exposing ourselves. We are showroom dummies!"