Good ol’ French crusty bread

This is my first post. I'm scared. My intention for this blog is to share my own experiences of what I love doing, the history and stories behind the recipe and what works best that can hopefully help or inspire you. Ok, here goes.

I am trying to perfect French bread, mostly because I am a perfectionist, but I want to achieve soft, airy, crusty amazingness! I happened to come across a great recipe online, that broke down a French boule easily, but also efficiently. I have been reading on bread, and invested in some key books along the way, but sometimes you need that one simple one to get you started and feel the strides. Bread is a way of life, especially for us. It is a food element that is its own category, allowing people to share and pass along the table. It can help start the conversation, or continue one. It reconnects people or family. Without bread, this world would probably be quite boring. Every culture and background has a traditional bread recipe that identifies them, and with that, it is our duty as the next generations to bring those to the forefront, or continue them. It feels right to begin with the straightforward French white bread, not only because it was the first thing I baked when I realized I wanted to start this blog, but because it is the most classic of breads, with a base that is mimicked across almost all bread recipes known across the world. Flatbreads (naans, focaccias, pizzas, and the like), boules, levains, biga, and poolish recipes all share the same foundation, with nuances here and there from ingredients to baking methods that separate them from one another across the cuisines. I think the key to understanding bread is that you can make great, delicious bread with time and effort. Those two should be considered ingredients to your bread making practice. To me, there is also a three part belief system; the oven process, kneading the right amount of time (sometimes longer than you feel comfortable with), and finding what's the right amount of flour for you.

Firstly is the oven process. Trust me, I went through my fair share of mishaps and swapping things out thinking that I understood using a baking sheet, in place of a dutch oven with no steaming process would turn out a good bread. *Sigh*. It was a fail. If you don't trial, how do you learn? Since then, I have cemented in my brain that a dutch oven or dutch-oven copycat process (baking sheet, and iron cast pan with ice cubes below it) are a must. If you want to bake bread right, invest in the dutch - it will pay off and be worth it. I would go as far as saying any home baker should also have a kitchen scale. Measuring by weight versus volume is earth shifting. Your method will not only be that much more improved, but taste and texture will be transformational. There is so much that can be missed when only going by volume, because everyone’s cup size may differ slightly here and there, and flour is packed very differently across the brands. For instance, one flour bag may be packed tightly, whereas another one is looser, and therefore your measuring cup will be spooning different weights, due to how tight the flour is packed and how much air is trapped. I hope I didn’t lose you! All in all, invest in a dutch oven and a digital kitchen scale. You will be baking a whole lot easier from there on, let me tell you. The way I learnt how to bake is old school. It’s mixing traditional with some modern Western techniques, but that were from the 90s, so it doesn’t even really compare to today. The way our ancestors baked was without scale, nor dutch ovens, but sight and touch were all that was measured by, and that is something we do not understand enough of today, because we are not from the old era, we have modern technology and advanced metric systems to help us get by. However, kneading by hand is at least the closest we will ever get to understanding dough, and using our hands as an element in the process.

Secondly is the kneading process. French bread is actually simple when you break it down. It consists of a handful of ingredients: yeast, water, sugar (optional), salt, flour. They key is kneading (by hand is more important, but stand mixer if you don’t have the patience), for at least 10mins. I've practiced various times, and the longer the better. The saggier and tackier the dough, the better. You will need to get really comfortable with messy and sticky hands, but if our ancestors were doing it like that, then we should have no problem. Some recipes call for the dough to be a little more smooth, but tackier is the way to go. You won't be kneading much after the initial 10mins process anyways. It will be proofing times from here on.

Thirdly, correct measurements and weighing properly, as I’ve already brought up. This is paramount for understanding your flour, and getting to know how much of it you need for your recipe. Everyone will differ, because we buy different flours, packed different ways. I used to not have a scale, and I find that I tend to need less than what is called for with King Arthur or Arrowhead Mills Unbleached All Purpose Flour. I've seen recipes call for up to 4 cups (500grams), so you will want to have extra water handy, to ensure that your flour to water parts gets you a wet enough dough. Everyone's ingredients and ovens are different. Pillsbury is the least favorable, I've never understood why, but something to do with it being a tougher dough when processed, unlike King Arthur, or Bob's Red Mill. I personally try to buy organic unbleached versions, because health is also key for me.

Alas, my three pillars of belief for making a trusty, French style bread. It ain't difficult, but bread making is intimidating. The idea of a dutch oven, or no dutch oven, and all the proofing or flouring around, make it seem hard to perfect, but I think it's patience and baking with love that will get you a perfect end result. The thing is, don't be scared to trial and error. Get some ok ones going, and it doesn't hurt to see what you prefer and how much flour or oven heat you need. Remember what temperature you settle on that baked your bread perfectly, because you’ll want to remember that for next time. You will notice that many bakers have notebooks filled with times and measurement adjustments, for the next one. Bread hardly ever tastes bad, unless you really missed a step, which is a little hard to do, but as long as you are confident in reading the recipe guide and just go, everything will take shape. There is so much history behind bread, but I will be saving that for my next bread recipe, because this one just called for enough attention on tips and advice and I hope they help. Happy dough-ing!