Crispy Home-made Baguettes
The Story
Bread is
not only one of France's international icons, but has also been one of its most
historically significant foods. For the peasants and common folk of
pre-industrial France, bread was quite literally a staple of life. The peasants
depended on bread as their main source of nutrition and it was common for an
average male peasant to consume two to three pounds of bread per day. Although
peasants at the time had access to other foods such as meats, dairy products,
sea foods, and nuts, many of these were far too expensive for anything but
special occasions such as weddings or religious festivals. For the majority of
the year, the peasants lived on vegetables and, most importantly,
bread. Although bread was the staple of life for early French peasants, it
is not the common French breads we are accustomed to eating today. Early
peasant breads were made using a variety of courser and more affordable grains
such as wheat, rye, and buckwheat. Refined white flour was reserved only for
the upper class. In fact, as prices for grains rose, bakers would often substitute ingredients such as sawdust, dirt, hay, or even dung to make the flour last longer and keep the bread affordable.
Not only
did bread have a key role in the daily life of the French citizens, it also
played an important part in the French revolution. A series of poor weather
conditions in the late 1700s caused a severe grain shortage in France which, in
turn, caused a bread shortage and extreme increases in the prices of grains and breads. Robbed of their main source of nutrition, peasants began “bread
riots” which became more prominent throughout France. Starvation from lack of
bread and other crops was one of the main reasons that lead up to the French
Revolution. In fact, the riots that led up to the famous fall of the Bastille
on July 14, 1789 began as a search for arms and bread. Michael R. Lynn, in his
article Riots and Rye: Bread and the
French Revolution recognized that it was “riots and, even more simply, the
threat of rioting [that helped] propel the revolution forward and make it
increasingly radical.”[i]
Once the
new French government took power, availability of bread became an obvious
concern. The new government heavily controlled bread prices and even controlled the way in
which bread could be made. For a time, the government banned all bread making
except one style called pain d' egalite, or “equality bread” which consisted of
¾ wheat flour and ¼ rye. Although price regulations for bread are no longer in
effect, you will still find the price of bread consistent throughout France to this
day.
The fact
that so many laws have been written surrounding bread is itself a testimony to
the importance of bread in the French culture. Another important law in the
history of French bread was a law written in March of 1919 which stated that “It
is forbidden to employ workers at bread and pastry making between ten in the
evening and four in the morning.”[ii] Prior to the writing of
this law, the common French bread was the Boule, a hearty, ball shaped loaf.
But this traditional bread took considerable time to carefully knead and
prepare. With bakers unable to come in before four in the morning, there was no
way they would have enough time to prepare for the morning bread runs. The
solution to this issue was discovered in a long thin bread that was invented in
Vienna in the middle of the 19th century. Because of its particular
shape and texture, it could be prepared much quicker making it easily available
as a breakfast bread.
This
style of bread has since become so popular in France it is almost the iconic
symbol of French baking throughout the world. Today, when we think of picking
up a French bread from the supermarket here in America, it is typically a
rendition of this long, thin stick of a loaf which we even call “French Bread”.
The actual name in French is a Baguette, which means “wand” because of its
distinctive shape. Although there are many types of bread that carry the
appearance of a French Baguette, not every one of them can carry that title. I believe
that the French Baguette is the only bread that I have ever found which was
protected by national law. In 1993, the French government enacted a law
commonly known as “The Bread Law” which states that, for a bread to be
considered a “traditional Baguette,” it “must be mixed, kneaded, leavened and
baked on premise, without ever being frozen. They must also be additive-free
and can contain only four precious ingredients – wheat flour, water, salt and
yeast.”[iii]
The Bread
Since July celebrates France's independence as well, and bread played such an important role in the country's independence, it only seemed fitting to celebrate by making traditional bread. I've never been too keen on eating sawdust or dung, though, so I decided against making the traditional peasant breads that played such an important role in France's history. The Baguette is still of great cultural importance to the French people, and since it is the bread most people think about when they think about French bread today, that is what we are going to make instead.
Like many professional artisan breads, it is very difficult to reproduce a true Baguette in your home kitchen, but there are a few recipes out there that come close. However, you have to be very careful when choosing a Baguette recipe because, according to the 1993 Bread Law mentioned in the history above, many of these recipes can not legally call themselves a traditional Baguette since they use ingredients (most commonly honey) which are outside of the legal boundaries of a traditional Baguette. I am a purist when it comes to my breads though, and if I'm going to go to the trouble to make a Baguette, I want it to be a legal Baguette (after all, what other bread has legal requirements). Another limitation to the Baguette that is missing from many recipes comes from the method in which the Baguette is baked. French bakeries use deck ovens which inject steam during the baking process. The steam causes the dough crust to expand before setting and also melts the gluten in the crust. It's this steam injection process that creates the golden, crunch outside and the chewy, air-filled inside that is signature to a traditional Baguette. Unfortunately, most American ovens do not come equipped with steam injection, so reproducing this effect can be difficult at home.
After doing some research online and experimenting in my kitchen a bit, I came up with the following recipe which stays true to the legal requirements and has, I feel, the right blend between simplicity and authenticity.
The Recipe
Makes 3 cookie sheet length loaves:
• 5 cups flour
• 2 cups warm water
• 3.5 teaspoons dry yeast
• 2.5 teaspoons salt
In a large mixing bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together first. Then, slowly mix in the water. Remember that the texture of the bread is more important than the exact quantity of water. Continue adding water slowly until the dough is slightly stick, but no longer clings to your skin.
Remove dough from mixing bowl and, on a floured surface, push the dough out from the center, smearing it against the surface with the lower palm of your hand a few times to ensure all ingredients are well blended. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and consistent. It is important not to over knead the bread.
When the bread is smooth and consistent, cover and let rise for and hour and a half. Perhaps it is because of the climate, or because I tend to bake late at night, but I used to have trouble getting bread to rise properly. If you are in this camp, simply heat your oven to its lowest setting (about 100 degrees F) and turn it off. Then set your bread in there with an oven-safe pan of water and let it rise.
After it raises, cut the dough into three equal parts. Get out a large cookie sheet, drape a dish cloth over it and flour generously. Place each part of the dough on an un-floured surface and fold the dough over itself, rolling while pushing the dough outwards until it becomes a long snake. Once your snake is about the length of the cookie sheet, place it on the cookie sheet and lift the cloth along the long sides of the snake so that the floured cloth cradles the dough. Once all three parts have been rolled out and are on the cookie sheet, raise again for one hour.
Now comes the fun part. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. and place a metal (NOT glass!) oven-safe bowl or pan on the bottom rack of the oven. While this is heating, score your loaves by cutting four diagonal slashes in the top of each loaf using a very sharp knife (preferably a clean razor blade if available). Carefully slide the loaf off of the dish towel and onto the cookie sheet. Once the oven is hot, quickly place the sheet of loaves on the middle rack of the oven. Toss about 6 to 8 cubes into the metal bowl or pan on the bottom rack and quickly close the door of the oven. This creates an imitation steam injection which helps produce the texture that is so important for a good Baguette. Just a note: If you have a glass window on your oven door, you may want to cover it with a towel or be VERY careful tossing in the ice cubes as a sudden drastic change in temperature, like a fallen ice cube on a hot window, has been known to crack glass.
Once the bread is successfully in its artificial sauna, let bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
The Result
As I mentioned before, to make a genuine French Baguette, you need a steam injection oven, so I knew it wouldn't turn out as airy in the middle or as golden brown on the outside. I was pleased though at how crispy the outside did turn out and the inside was nice and chewy. Today I just got tipped off to an awesome little French Bakery around the corner from where I work, so the next step will be to buy an authentic Baguette and compare the taste and texture. Stay tuned for the results. In the meantime, my whole family is pleasantly pleased with the results of round one.
[i] Michael R., Lynn. N.p.. Web. 14 Jul 2013.
<http://www.ultimatehistoryproject.com/bread.html>.
[ii] Bulletin des Lois de la République Française — Nouvelle Série —
Année 1919 T.XI:241-264 B. No. 246 (p.769) - No.
13950
[iii] Phyllis, Flick. N.p., n. d. 14 Jul 2013.
<http://myparisnotebook.com/2010/03/22/the-best-baguette-in-paris-2010/>.
[iv] N.p.. Web. 14 Jul 2013. <http://www.lepetitfrancais.com/history>
[v] N.p.. Web. 14 Jul 2013. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baguette>
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