The record-union., 1894-06-20
MAKING FRENCH BREAD.
Advantages Claimed over the Amer
can Method.


Advantages Claimed over the Ameri-
can Method.
Bad cooking and bad bread, so the
culinary Wiseacres say, are responsible
Tor good many unhealthy American
citizens. But bad bread nowadays in
New York is a misnomer, or should be.
The knowing American housewife buys
the French bread, even If she has to go
to Washington Square to get it. But the
French bakery has become an integral
part of the town, and the bread made by
French bakers is obtainable in all parts
of the city. Yet few of us know how it
is made.
a World reporter and artist the other
day visited a French bakery near Wash
ington Square with view of elucidating
the mystery of French bread. Having
been invited by the proprietor to descend
into the cellar, where the bread is baked,
they were there received by the foreman,
whose Christian name is Philippe. lie
is handsome, dark haired Frenchman.
He wore a pair of light trousers and
nothing else. His felloWworkm were
similarly attired.
The interior of this French bakeroom
was picturesque in the extreme. The
house is old. The roaring furnace cast a
cheerful, ruddy color over the walls,
Hour bins and implements of baking. In
the blackened rafters were hung the long
wooden shovelS, or pelIes, with which
the bread is put into and taken out of the
oven. The almost naked men were mus
cular and healthy.
The most familiar kind OF French loaf
is the long, thin one, sometimes known
as the pain de marchand de vim. 1t is
quite sufficient, however. To call it a
pain" In Paris you nay often see a
workman who has large iamily-which
workmen there occasionally haye-going
home with one Of these loaves six feet
long. La this New York bakery, how
ever, they do not make them more than
three feet long.
French bread is always very light and
well baked and Drowned. the crust is
crisp and the bread dry. 1t cannot be
rolled up into paste again with the tin-
gers.
There is another form of loaf which is
quite common. 1t is called pain rond, :"
and is flat and round, like q disk. The
crust is very thick and hard and the
bread is rather solid. 1t is made with
less water than the other kinds. The
crust is excellent with cheese.
In France the price OF bread is fixed by
law varying with that OF wheat. The
present price is about four cents pound.
1t is very serious crime in that country
to try to corner the wheat market. 4
king of France once accomplished that
feat, and after the revolution the people
decided to put in Jail for long period
any one who should attempt to initiate
him. The French baker can only MAKE
any considerable profit out of pains de
fontaine, or fancy-shaped rolls, which are
not subject to the law regarding the price
of bread.
Philippe, the foreman, tried his best to
explain the difference between French
and American bread. He was not COM
pIimentary to the latter. The great dif-
ference, he said. was that the French was
made with more care and was never put
IN molds. After the dough for the French
bread has been kneaded, it is rolled, then
placed in boxes to repose itself for ten
minutes. then rolled again and put into
the oven. The American dough, on the
other hand is stuffed into a mold and
put into the oven without any further
manipulation.
The proportions of water and flour are,
he said, about the same in both kinds.
1t is, however, customary to put lat and
other strange ingredients into American
bread which are never put into French.
He knew. because he made both kinds.
There are number of French bakeries
in the neighbOrhood of the square. Their
principal business is with the local
French restaurants, and they also supply
many American restaurants.