The History of French Bread
JIM CHEVALLIER
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Before the Baguette The History of French Bread JIM CHEVALLIER Buy the print book Buy the ebook |
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French bread has been prized in other countries since medieval times and the baguette today is made all over Asia (even in North Korea!). Yet histories of this very influential bread are lacking; this new work attempts to fill in that gap, presenting a history of French bread from the first Neolithic flat breads up to the baguette, and an overview of developments since. After a look at the earliest breads in France, the text turns to the Roman breads which became, in simpler form, the first medieval breads, then the appearance of trade groups and regulated breads, followed by increasing documentation of the craft, before luxury breads and long breads appeared in the seventeenth century, creating a new variety in the loaves offered, greatly expanded in 1839 when August Zang introduced the croissant and Austrian methods into French baking. Meanwhile crow-bar length loaves became common in Paris, carried by women bread porters - porteuses de pain. A long list of breads was already noted at the start of the twentieth century, when the baguette is first mentioned (though then barely noted). In the decades since, several older loaves and terms persisted even as the baguette became more common. But after World War II, complaints increased about the quality of French bread and both the government and bakers began to address the issue, more or less successfully, so that "traditional" style breads became more common along with celebrated artisanal bakers, even as the French have eaten less bread and automatic dispensers have replaced many rural bakeries. |
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Introduction The First Bread in France French Bread Begins (the Gallo-Romans) Changes in grain Making bread Grain quality Ovens Varieties of bread Cultural shifts The Middle Ages (the Franks) Dagobert’s “statutes” Just “bread” Charlemagne Breads of the Church Famines The Middle Ages (the Capetians) Statutes Breads in statutes Banal ovens Nuances Conclusion Sixteenth century bread Types of bread Documentation appears The Maison Rustique Grains Milling and flour Leavening Wheat and bread-baking Other grains An in-depth look Seventeenth century bread Breads at the start of the century Yeast and the Queen's pain mollet The first recipes The Quarrel of Pain Mollet Long bread and crust Eighteenth century bread Malouin and Parmentier Gruau flour and economic milling Positions in bakeries Disagreements Leavenings Disagreements on yeast Types of dough Round and long shapes Shapes and sizes of bread Rolls Potato bread |
Bread under the French Revolution Rumors and consequences Revolutionary measures Equality bread Transitions Nineteenth century bread Grignes Laws Tailles August Zang and the Boulangerie Viennoise Zang's influence Myths about Zang Loaves like crowbars Coarser breads Other special breads Porteuses de pain The liberty of bread Roller mills Crust Transitions The Start of the Twentieth Century The modern croissant appears World War I The baguette is born A Century of the Baguette Enduring and evolving loaves Relaxed price controls Problems of quality Addresing the problem APPENDIX A: Making French Medieval Bread In a nutshell Sources Terminology Weights and measures Instructions Grain Types of bread Flour Milling Bolting, sifting and sieving Leavening Hydration Additives Sizes Shape Ovens Expectations |
APPENDIX B: Recipes and Instructions The first true recipes for French bread (1662) Pain bénit (1767) Four fancy breads in one session (1767) Potato bread with no wheat (1794) Carême's French bread (1815) Corn bread from Béarn (1834) The standard Parisian bakers' method (1875) Homemade bread (1889) An early recipe for a laminated croissant (1896) The first American baguette recipe (1917) APPENDIX C: Regional Breads Arras Amiens Beaune Bordeaux Bresse Chartres Coudres (Eure) Coutances Dijon Douai Falaise Liège Limoges Lyon Marseille Montpelier Nantes Pouys Provins Rouen Reims Roye Ramerupt Strasbourg Toulon Troyes APPENDIX D: Bread Myths APPENDIX E: Glossary of French Breads NOTES Bibliography Index |