The bread we buy from the bread lady actually comes in a bag. I say that because often in France you are — or used to be — just handed a "naked" baguette (the smaller, skinny loaf that weighs 250 grams) or a pain (the fatter, full-size loaf that weighs 400 g) with no wrapper on it at all. That's less and less the case these days, I think, but when we buy an "ordinary" baguette from the bread lady, it comes without a wrapper of any kind.
The baguette de tradition française that we usually buy comes in a paper bag. I've scanned one of the bags the baker uses so you can see how it is labeled. What it says on the right is: "Bread in the French tradition, leavened with natural yeasts and cultures by an artisan baker according to the Lemaire method." In other words, it's not made in an industrial bakery but by the local baker in his own shop, from scratch. Here's a link to the Pains Lemaire web site.
The méthode Lemaire was defined by a man named Raoul Lemaire back in the late 1950s. Lemaire was a pioneer of organic farming in France, and the bread made according to his method is made from organically grown wheat that is stone-ground into flour, with no additives. It requires slow kneading (pétrissage lent) and a long, slow rise (longue fermentation). Levain is the starter culture used to make sourdough bread, but the bread we get doesn't taste sour the way San Francisco sourdough bread tasted when we lived out there.
The text above gives details of French government rules defining the composition of bread that carries the name "traditional French bread" or any name using those terms. It has to be made with wheat flour, drinking water, and table salt, for example. Ingredients must be fresh, and never frozen at any stage. The starter culture (sourdough) must be made with wheat flour or a combination of wheat and rye flour, along with drinking water, and it has to be the product of the natural fermentation ("souring") process (without the addition of ascorbic acid, in other words). The regulations date back to 1993.
I wish labeling here in the States was as precise as it is in France. "Organic" here can mean many things, e.g.....BTW your bread yesterday was very handsome looking.
ReplyDeleteIn LA, there are no plastic bags whatsoever available at the grocer, or elsewhere. They've been outlawed. Paper bags are available, but you must pay for them. Therefore, most people carry cloth grocery sacks....better for the environment and less plastic ends up in the in the sea or landfills. It's surprising how quickly everyone's adapted.
Our supermarkets don't give out plastic bags either. It's been that way for many years now. We take our own bags with us when we go shopping. You still get thin plastic bags for produce, without handles. One supermarket has recently switched to paper bags for produce. And bread is sold in paper bags at the supermarket. I imagine you get breads like French bread in paper bags too, no? And how does it work with bulk items like beans or cereals or rice?
ReplyDeleteFrench bread in paperbags, yes, or in your own reusable, Bulk items, I don't know.... but supermarket produce does provide little plastic swipe bags. At our farmer's markets they will "guilt you" into no bag at all, mdr, and you are on your own.
Deletei'm really enjoying your bread series. i'm completely fascinated by your bread lady. what a service! i made a loaf of bread the other nite - not in the méthode Lemaire - but it was good enough. this morning i had some slices with butter and jam with my coffee and thought of you both.
ReplyDelete:-)
I'll be making bread again this afternoon -- or dough, anyway. I'll let it "ferment" overnight and cook it in the morning. I bought some organic bread flour a couple of days ago. We'll see.
DeleteKen, you might enjoy a glance at the website "breadtopia.com." I've purchased their sourdough starter before but don't
ReplyDeletemake enough bread to warrant keeping it alive with regular feedings. This Iowa couple have managed to create a good
business as a result of people's interest in "natural" bread making. His video tutorials are short and to the point. Registering
might result in your receiving one or two emails a year at the most.
Thanks, Sheila. I'll have a look.
DeleteI have a sourdough starter made with our local yeast culture that's about 20 years old. It sometimes goes for months without being fed. I keep it in the back of the refrigerator and refresh it a couple days before I'm going to use it. I am always pleasantly surprised that it comes back to vigorous life after a feed and rest on the counter for a few hours. You might try it with your starter. I think the cultures can be much more hardy than expected.
DeleteI've never made a sourdough starter, Tom, but maybe I should try it. For the time being, I'm using baker's yeast in dry form. My dough for bread this morning has been rising for more than 12 hours at this point. I guess I should save some of that to use as a starter?
DeleteAm I reading this right, that the Lemaire method permits levain and/or levure de panification"? (Baker's yeast?)
ReplyDeleteYou've got E interested in making bread. We started last night using our old simple favorite recipe but this time gave it a second rise overnight in the fridge to deepen the flavor. We're just about to shape it into loaves and it should be ready for lunch.
Have you tried making your own levain, out of water and flour and time? For a while I kept one levain of whole wheat flour and one of white flour going.
You've got me there. The spec for pain de tradition française says levure or levain. The Lemaire method texts don't help much.
DeleteOoh, I love these informative posts about food, and special laws regulating the labeling, and all that.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see tomorrow's baked bread (photos?).
I'm currently reading Michael Pollan's "Cooked". The third part ("Air") is about bread and natural leavenings and how they're different from yeasts. Fascinating read.
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