Oh baguette, my French love!

One of the better known icons of French food, “bread”.

Think of French food and one of the first things that come to mind is the “baguette”. People’s lives in France are punctuated by their visits to the boulangerie, the bakery.  But of course, the French love affair with breads is by no means limited to only the baguette. Au contraire…

[French District] - Cet article a été diffusé dans la newsletter du French District.
Abonnez-vous gratuitement pour être parmi les premiers à lire nos nouveaux articles.

 

Children grow up with being responsible for buying the family bread while the elderly get a breath of fresh air outside their homes by visiting the bakery. Every meal is adorned with more than one variety of bread. Coucou, tu as pris le pain?”…

Baguette, one of the most famous types of French bread, literally means “a stick”. Weighing anywhere from 250 grams, this mouth-watering bread comes in different forms – the ordinary baguette, the baguette moulée (molded baguette) or baguette farinée (flour-topped baguette).

Deliciously white

The delicious French white bread comes in various shapes and sizes, from couronne (shaped like a ring), the flute (almost double the size of a baguette), the batard (half the length of a normal loaf) to the ficelle (long and thing bread made like a baguette).

The classic American or English sliced bread is also available and is called “pain de mie”. Considering French love for fresh bread, this bread doesn’t make it to the fresh bread counter at a supermarket.

There’s a bit of magic in them all…

If you think whole wheat or rye flour isn’t delicious, try pain de champagne (country bread). If that doesn’t do it for you, then you can try pain complet or pain aux céréales which are whole wheat breads, pain de seigle which is a rye bread, pain au levain for sourdough bread. You are bound to fall in love with one of the French breads.

For the ones with a sweet tooth, rest assured, the French have you covered. Dig into a brioche and satisfy that sweet tooth.

Nuts about bread…

Bread with nuts mmm…pain aux noix. Add olives and bacon to the regular bread and you have pain aux lardons. Don’t stop at that. Olives and cheese come together in bread in the form of Fougasse which is France’s version of focaccia. This bread is now iconic of Provence.

The list of breads goes on. And bread is taken extremely seriously in France. So no matter where you go, or which restaurant you dine in, you can be sure to get a taste of their home breads, bread rolls or traditional recipes. Indulge in any of these breads with some cheese and pâté and a gastronomic delight is yours to enjoy.

Long comme un jour sans pain.” (As long as a day without bread.)