French Bread

flour, salt, yeast and water...

and this is a special day?

French Bread Day

Seriously? 

French bread makes me

think of one country...

and don’t rush to assume its France! 

 French bread makes me

think of Cambodia.

After living in Thailand,

eating sugary sweet bread

or green slices of “bread”,

stepping into a French colonised nation

 was wonderful. 

Bread, real bread, was everywhere!

  I didn’t each much local –

Cambodian cuisine,

but I sure had some delicious “meals”.

So, French Bread Day... 

I was literally stunned

to discover these little crumbs

of French bread history! 

Let’s go back to the 18^th century.

  So, the fermentation process

used back then

led to some very high quality bread.

  So amazing, that there was

a special police task force! 

These special police needed

to ensure there was always

enough quality bread

available to the people.

It’s 1791... Andre, a baker

is using a wood-fired oven to bake bread.

  He burns some loaves! 

(Apparently, conditions

were not good and burning loaves

 is actually very easy!) 

Andre dumps the bread in a bin...

enter the bread police,

who find the bread! 

They admit that the crust is burnt,

 but the inside of the bread

is still edible. 

They are furious that bread

 has been thrown away! 

 Andre finds himself in court... 

 (Think of that the next time

 you throw away some slices of bread!)

 By the 1950’s,

 the quality of the bread has slipped

 and people are starting to complain.

  By the 1960’s

this bread is renamed = white bread. 

The taste has gone. 

The bread needs to be

eaten with something,

to add some taste.  

 Jump forward to the 1990’s

and the original French bread returns. 

 It’s made using organic flours,

natural fermentation

and wood-fired ovens.

   And this time,

there are no bread police!

 Photos from here and here.