The Wonders of Bread

Bought at Saturday market

Of course I knew that living in France meant that I would have some really good bread.  Although I don't eat it often, I do buy a baguette if company is coming.  For just myself, I almost never buy one, as they go stale long before I can possibly finish one.  Even half a baguette doesn't stay fresh as slowly I as consume it.  Sometimes I will buy a pain pave--a hard-crust roll that is reminiscent of a paving stone, and have that with some soup, or thinly sliced with butter.  But as a rule, I don't buy bread, because it goes stale before I can finish it.  And believe me, few things are harder than a stale baguette.  

One thing that might startle Americans, obsesses as they are with germs--often your baguette is selected for you by bare hands.  While it might be put is a sleeve or have a little paper napkin twirled around it for east of carrying, most often it's bare-naked.  And never, ever, ever have I seen a baguette sealed in plastic!  Thank God!

Top of the loaf

And not all baguettes are created equal.  Some are the equivalent of white sandwich bread--crusty on the outside, but white and fine grained once cut.  Those are my least favorite and I have to be desperately hungry to have a slice of that.  My preferred baguette is either "Traditon" or "Campagne" (traditional or country-style)  They usually have a darker, thicker, chewier crust and the bread itself is denser and darker and has more flavor.  I have become a bit of a baguette snob, I am afraid.  There are some coated in sesame seeds--pretty tasty. Some larger ones will contain olives, some will contain hazelnuts.  Once in a while as a treat,  I will get the little "paving stone" that contains dried fruits, even though the bread itself is far from sweet.

The French do not eat butter on their bread; bread is an accompaniment to the meal, and is generally used for sopping up leftover sauce.  A basket of sliced baguette arrives with the carafe of water while waiting for a first course.  A slice of baguette and some wine while waiting for the starter is traditional.  I almost never indulge in this.  And I do not ask for butter when I eat out.

But at home-----that's an entirely different story.  I think the bread is simply a delivery vehicle for the glorious French butter.  Sometimes I will put a teaspoon

The Crumb

of jam (preferably cherry or apricot) on the buttered slice of baguette, but most often it's just bread and butter.

But today, I found, on advice from my friend Romain, a new (to me) baker in the Saturday market.  He has resurrected an ancient variety of wheat once grown in this region, cultivates it, grinds it into flour and bakes bread for sale in the market.  There's a guy down in Cucugnan who does the same thing, and he resurrected the mill as well.  But his bread is really hard to get--he is sold out before he even bakes his loaves.  

I love the fact that I didn't have to buy an entire loaf--I could order a half or less if that's all I wanted.  He had a piece there that looked like half a small loaf of wheat with sunflower seeds in it, so I bought it.  It cost all of 2 Euros---for organic, locally sourced wheat (and probably the sunflower seeds as well).  I don't know what the equivalent size of organic bread in the US would be, but I am pretty sure it would be more than 2 Euros.  And while it might be organic, I am pretty sure the wheat would not be full of local nutrients.  

Really browned bottom crust

I had a slice, with butter--of course--for my supper tonight.  Oh my--my bread experience has been taken to a completely new level.  The crust was crisp, and chewy, full of flavor.  The inside of the bread was soft, but not gummy, toothsome and slightly, but not unpleasantly sour.  The texture and taste of the bread combined with the velvety sweetness of the butter was amazing.  I think I have found my new bread man.

And a note about butter--I bought some salted butter a couple of weeks ago, because I was careless and didn't read the label.  I was horrified when I got it home and unwrapped to fund it contained salt.  I can barely stand the stuff now, and once upon a time, it was all I ate.  I am using it as fast as I can to cook with, but I hope I don't make that mistake again. My favorites are the butters from Normandy or the Charentes regions of France.  I guess it's the flavor of the grass that the cows there ingest that makes it so tasty. 

This will toast beautifully in the mornng

I remember reading stories of Europeans setting out on a picnic of bread and butter, or bread and cheese, and little else.  As someone who grew up on Wonder Bread and Velveeta,  I never understood how those two foods could be a meal, much less one that satisfied. I understand it now.  Do they still even make Wonder Bread? 

And oh yeah, I bought some green cheese at last week's market in Limoux....basil flavored.  Yum!

A slice of the moon