Time to don a beret and say bonsoir while sipping some coffee and munching on a croissant. Bakeries in the city are now baking baguettes, Pain de Campagne, et al. People, too, are picking the loaves to taste the authentic goodness. By Rupinder Kaur
How do you tell how good bread is without tasting itIJ Not the smell, not the look, but the sound of the crust. Oh symphony of the crackle, only great bread sounds this way,” said Colette, the chef in the film Ratatouille, as she pressed a baguette next to her ear. This summed up what a perfect French bread should ideally be like, though we don’t really recommend the pressing of bread at the bakery looking for that crackling sound for the sake of hygiene.
Over the years, the demand for buttered or jammed toasts has been replaced by various varieties of croissants for breakfast in the city-best served with a soothing cup of tea or black coffee. Followed by a wholesome veggie or meat stuffed baguette for a quick fix meal. The French bakers have slowly begun a bread revolution in the sleepy town of bun makhan.
l’Opera’s chairman Kazem Samandari gave us a brief history of the French breads, the baking techniques of which go back to at least 3,000 years.
“Bread is the history of mankind as you contemplate it. At the basis of our diet for thousands of years, it bears testimony to the history of civilization. As a spiritual symbol, it has accompanied feasts and religious rites. Depending on the whims of nature and military campaigns, bread has been a sign of opulence or misery, servitude or freedom; famine bread during the Middle Ages, hunger strikes on the eve of the French Revolution, black bread rationed during war, and post-war white bread, “ explained Kazem, who has spent around 20 years in Paris.
In 1788 and 1789 (French Revolution), storage and sale of grains combined with adverse weather conditions led to a severe bread shortage throughout France.
“Mass starvation eventually provoked revolution. Some even say that the storming of the Bastille was more a call for bread than it was an uprising to free enemies of the crown. The people cried out for bread and searched the bakeries to no avail. There was no bread. Once calm was restored, the constituent assembly authorized bakers to make only one kind of bread — bread of equality,” he said.
later Napoleon’s government issued decrees that established standards for French bread, specifying ingredients and baking methods. later, governments added to the Napoleonic decrees, specifying ways to knead and aerate the dough and establishing shape and size criteria for any loaf designated an authentic French baguette.
In the early 20th century, techniques were developed where slow fermentation became 100 per cent guaranteed by the yeast. The kneading is short, the shape is long, and the dough irregularly aerated. And in 1920, the baguette, as we know it today, was born.
Also, Hollywood hunk Jake Gyllenhaal recently revealed that he is addicted to a high-end bakery chain’s baguettes in london.
Pastry chef Amit Pratap Singh of Kempinski shared that in order to create the authentic French breads like baguette and Pain de Campagn and the flaky pastry croissant, he follows the traditional steps. “We make the dough using imported flour and minimum amount of yeast and leave it to ferment for 24 hours and bake it. This process is also known as sour culture. We make fresh breads, which must have a thin crust, every single day and also for different meals,” he told us.