Why French Bread is Better

Answers to the great mystery of why the French do bread so much better than everyone else - a taste of their secrets.

The secret to the superiority of French bread starts before the dough becomes dough, before the flour hits the bowl, it even starts before the flour gets into French kitchens.

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Honestly... the French love bread more

Bread is woven into the very culture of France. Did you know that 9/10 French folks eat bread every day? Or that the phrase <<gagner son pain>> ("earn your bread") means to succeed, to make a living? Did you know that there is a competition every year to make la meilleure baquette?

In 1993 the Le Décret du Pain was put in place which decreed that, by law, all bread sold in France must be guaranteed to meet a certain standard of quality. In order to adhere to this standard of quality, all bread needed to meet the conditions that define le pain traditionnel français. Le pain traditionnel français meets the following requirements:

• Is made with non-additive flour

• Uses liquid leaven (yeast)

• Has long scores in the crust

• Only uses the following ingredients: wheat flour, salt, yeast, and water

• Is sold in the same place it was made

• Has never been frozen

If this doesn't tip you off that the French take the hold their bread to higher standards than we do, then I don't know what else to say. Asking why the French make the best bread is like asking why Americans play the best American football.

But what are the differences in the way we make bread?

Well for starters - we don't necessarily make le pain traditionnel français. Where French bread is made using the ingredients listed above, the traditional American recipe looks more like this (I'll mark the differences for you):

• Flour

• Butter

• Milk

• Sugar

• Yeast

• Salt

• Water

I'm not going to tell you I know exactly why these added ingredients take away from the beauty of a French loaf, but I would guess that the flour and butter add unnecessary density - sacrificing the light and airy texture of French bread - and that the sugar adds unkneaded (hehe) sweetness.

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The kneading process also looks different between the French and American methods of making bread. Where the French treat their dough a little more delicately, slapping it down on the table and folding it over - the American method is rough with the dough and puts a bit too much muscle into it, which does not allow the nice and airy bubbles we get in a French baguette.

In addition to rough kneading, American bakers tend to add much more flour than a French baker would, creating a dough that looks more like a lumpy pancake batter and that becomes less and less gooey as the baker kneads the dough. With French baking the kneading process transitions the dough from sticky batter to a soft and springy dough, whereas the Americans use flour to get rid of the stickiness. See the pictures below for a visual.

The American dough - just look at all that flour!

...and the French dough - sticky, but you'll love the result.

That's a wrap on this blog post. I hope you've learned a little bit form this little blog. Keep an eye out for our Baguette Baking Lesson in the next few weeks and you can try making some classic French dough along with us!