Or more specifically, how do I make it? Since I bought my first bread maker about a year ago, I have been doing countless experiments in an effort to make good artisan-like bread at home in a bread maker. For the most part, I’ve been successful. I’ve finally achieved a near-perfect loaf of white bread by fiddling around with various levels of yeast, flour, dough conditioners, different types of sugar, etc. It has a very rich and professional taste and texture to it. It’s not just Wonder Bread. But I can’t quite nail French bread. What is it that gives French bread that exquisitely flakey-crunchy crust with the chewy and slightly-stretchy white portion? I think I remember reading somewhere that this achieved by tweaking the amount of oil in the bread or leaving it out entirely. Is this what gives French bread its distinctive characteristics? Here’s my recipe for white bread, if that helps:
1 cup water
360 grams bread flour, sifted
1 tablespoon sucrose
1 tablespoon glucose
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
7 grams yeast (1 packet, or 2 ¼ teaspoons)
½ teaspoon dough conditioner
Some times it has to do with the climate, as with sourdough. Also, maybe your machine simply isn’t capable of producing the kind of bread you want. Most people don’t use a machine.
I worked at a bakery where we made some of the state’s finest french baguettes. Our recipe consisted simply of flour, yeast, salt, and water. I can’t imagine that you’re ever going to be able to duplicate the crust that you’re looking for from a bread machine because after the loaf is formed you need to bake it on a baking stone in an oven injected with steam. These two elements will give you the desired crust.
Ignoring everything else for the moment, shape.
In 'merica “French” bread is sorta what the French would call a baguette, and “Italian” bread would be what the French would call a batard, also sorta.
(Only sorta 'cause I don’t think the French would call anything bread-like made in 'merica bread ;).)
Who’s the French guy that hung around with Julia Child? Jacques Pepin?
I watched him do bread on some PBS thing. As others have said, steam makes the crust. His version of steam was to crack open the oven and mist the bread with a sqirt bottle every 10 minutes or so. Of course, this was after he effortlessly turned a few scraps into a wheat sheaf decoration on top of the loaf. You might want to google about for his cookbooks.
I haven’t yet found a bread machine that makes good bread. If you’re looking to avoid the kneading part you’d be better off following the method of a good friend who makes really good bread: ditch the bread machine and get a Kitchen Aid with a dough hook. It does the kneading for you, but you can still poke about to get the feel of the wet/dry mix instead of relying on something that, really, aims for the LCD.
Mine makes fabulous bread. The trick though, is to not bake it in the machine itself; you need to bake it in the oven, ideally in a pizza stone. Even in the machine, though, I think it’s good, at least when fresh.
You can also do the steam by heating a cast iron pan in the bottom of your oven and throwing a cup of ice in when you add the loaf. You get an immediate burst of steam, then it creates a moist environment for the crust to cook in.
I also believe that french bread requires more kneading than a standard loaf, to promote more gluten development.
I can’t imagine baking french bread in a machine, and having it come out tasting remotely like a baguette.
From my understanding, you’re absolutely right. The humidity levels throughout the cooking time is important for good crust formation.
However, the no-knead recipe linked to above does a very good job in creating a very crispy loaf of bread. It uses a very wet dough (around 70-80% hydration) and, when trapped in a pre-heated Dutch oven, the combination of wet dough and enclosed cooking space creates just the right amount of humidity for a nice, crispy crust.
