Soft French Bread 🥖{Recipe and Tutorial} - Six Figures Under (2024)

FAQs

Soft French Bread 🥖{Recipe and Tutorial} - Six Figures Under? ›

One of the secrets of a great baguette is to start with a sponge (a mix of flour, water, and yeast), which gives the yeast time to mature and combine with the other ingredients, creating the mildly sour and nutty flavors and chewy texture.

One of the secrets of a great baguette is to start with a sponge (a mix of flour, water, and yeast), which gives the yeast time to mature and combine with the other ingredients, creating the mildly sour and nutty flavors and chewy texture.

To reach moist bread you need to make sure your bread is not over-proofed, be sure to hydrate it enough during the bake until it developed a thick crust, ingredients wise it's recommended to use whole grain flour, add special fruity ingredients to give your loaf more moisture and last let it cool down completely before ...

The purpose of scoring bread is to help guide the bread as it completes its final rise in the oven. Each cut creates a weak point on the loaf where the crust is encouraged to split and become more voluminous.

As noted in the recipe, French bread works quite well using whole wheat flour. I've found the best results are when using white whole wheat flour (red whole wheat flour makes a denser, heavier loaf).

French Baguettes are so good

First and foremost, the flour used in France is of very high quality. But the major difference between French and an American baguette is the fermentation process. Most French bakers use a poolish process, which consists of a mix of yeast and water that's allowed to ferment overnight.

The fat and lactose in milk help with tenderizing the crumb of the bread making it softer and sweeter. The crust of the bread also gets more caramelization. Be aware that bread made with milk should not be baked at too high of a temperature to prevent it from browning too much too soon.

For storage, slip the loaf into a paper bag. Fold over the top of the bag a time or two to seal in moisture. Stored this way, the crust will soften a bit, but it will still be enjoyable to eat for a day or two.

Keeping bread in an airtight environment will slow down the rate it becomes stale, so tightly encasing a baguette in aluminum foil will keep out moisture and help it last longer. It's important to make sure there aren't any holes or other ways for air to enter the protective layer.

How to make bread fluffy and not dense? ›

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

First and foremost, scoring bread dough with decorative cuts serves an important purpose: it guides a loaf to rise in a consistent, controlled, and optimal manner.

Scoring is the technique term for slashing bread dough before baking with a sharp knife or lame. Slashing creates weak spots in the bread's crust, allowing for expansion instead of burst seams. What feels like a task is a fine detail between beautiful baguettes and boring “French bread” loaves.

French bread tends to be longer and narrower. Italian bread loaves tend to be shorter and plumper. French bread tends to be hard and crusty on the outside, with a light and soft crumb. Italian bread can also have a hard crust, but the crumb tends to be denser.

Your bland bread could be the result of rushing the process. Try a slow overnight rise in the refrigerator. Plan ahead to proof your loaf overnight. This hands-off time in the icebox will slow the fermentation process in your dough and result in a complex-flavored loaf.

French bread in New Orleans has developed its own light, crispy crust and tender, almost frothy interior. The addition of a bit of olive oil and a wet dough make the crumb very tender and more close-grained than a traditional baguette.