French Bread & Sourdough

French bread is much imitated but rarely with complete success. A large number of factors contribute to its unique quality, including relatively soft flour (rather than the hard flour used for many white breads), slow rising with temperature and humidity carefully controlled, and the use of a steam oven. The bread is allowed to rise three times: the first time until tripled in bulk, the second time until doubled and the third time after being formed into long slender loaves. A baguette, literally “wand”, is the standard size, with thinner flûtes and even more slender ficelles often sliced for croûtes. Larger family loaves are called simply pains or “bread”. None of these breads has a shelf-life extending beyond a few hours. Traditional French bread is made with a cultured yeast and bacteria “starter” or leaven (Fr. levain), which may be a piece of dough saved from the previous batch, or a mixture of flour, water and yeast freshly mixed to make a sponge.