A girl passes the "levain" to her mother beside the wooden bread trough.
The importance that bread has played in French history
During the 18th century the most important political question of the day was the supply of the necessary quantity of good quality bread at a reasonable price. The American professor of history at Cornell University, Steven Kaplan, has written extensively on 18th century France and his interest in the "Bread Question" led to several important books on French breadmaking.
What was bread like in 18th century France?
Due to the quality of the fermentation method that was in use the bread would have been of a very high quality. The government had a special police task force responsible for ensuring an adaquete supply and quality of bread.
The depth of the obsession surrounding bread in 18th century France!!
It is the second year following the Revolution of 1789 - Andr é, a baker, accidentally burns a few loaves of bread - I have worked with old wood-fired ovens (no oven thermometer) so I can vouch for how easy it is to burn a few loaves. Moreover in 18th century France bakers worked in extremely difficult conditions - extreme heat, confined space, lack of ventilation, enormous workload.
When I burnt a few loaves I was told to concentrate on the work and try not to let it happen again - normal! But poor Andr é lives in 18th century France! The bread police find the discarded loaves in a bin - upon examination they conclude that yes the crust was burnt but that the crumb of the bread was still good. Andr é finds himself in court charged with having betrayed his country for throwing edible bread in the bin!!!
Baking Knowledge in 18th century France
Two books published during the second half of the 18th century demonstrate the knowledge of breadmaking during this "Epoque Des Lumieres” – Paul Jacques Malouin’s “L'Art de la Boulangerie” (1771) and Augustin Parmentier’s “Le Parfait Boulanger” (1778). I read “Le Parfait Boulanger” while working in a traditional bakery in Bordeaux during the summer of 2005. I was bowled over by the depth of knowledge and the intelligent way in which Parmentier approached the subject. Before modern science could explain much of what happens in a bread dough Parmentier had reached an extraordinary understanding.
Under the influance of Parmentier and Cadet de Vaux and their bakery school in Paris, bread in this city rose to extraordinary heights.
Natural Fermentaion Vs. Beer Yeast
At this time there was a great debate - Natural Fermentation (Levain) vs. Beer-Yeast Fermentation. It must be understood that France was and still is predominantly a wine producing country as opposed to a beer-making country - beer yeast was not readily available and so was very expensive. Parmentier was extremely opposed to the use of this beer-yeast in breadmaking.
During the 19th century beer-yeast is used predominantly for "pains de luxe" (luxury breads, often enriched and made with very white flour). In 1846 the Viennese developed a yeast produced from cereals - it was a better quality yeast and had better keeping qualities. Moreover these Viennese bakers arrive in Paris with new methods (oven and milling improvements) for making yeast-bread and start to produce very high quality breads. In 1874 a factory outside of Paris starts to produce this new yeast.
In 1937 Emile Dufour writes that the name "pain francais" (French bread) refers to naturally-fermented bread and the name "pain viennois" (Viennese bread) refers to yeast-bread. It must be said that the quality of these yeast-breads at this time was extremely high. Emile Dufour confirms that naturally-leavened breads are becoming scarcer in the cities and marginalised to the countryside.
Decline and Rebirth of French Bread
In the 1950s certain people in the industry express alarm over the falling quality of bread. In the 1960s the famous "pain blanc" (white bread) is born - improvers added to the flour, fast mixing of the dough, short fermentation times. This gives a bread with almost no taste, like cardboard. This bread is no longer eaten alone - it needs to be eaten together with something. This bread is only good when eaten warm - it is from this that the French obsession with warm, fresh bread came about. In the 1990s Jean-Pierre Coffe lashes out against the poor quality of bread - a product that is so dear to the French identity. Slowly a new generation of bakers emergres who look back to producing traditional French breads (organic flours, natural fermentation, wood-fired ovens).
France is a country of great contrasts - we find bakers with absolute passion and dedication to their craft and those bakers who have no interest in what they do. However it is certain that with bakers like Marc Dewalque, Jean-Francois Berthellot, Nicolas Supiot, Laurent Pouget, Daniel Testard, Daniel Collin, Hubert Chiron, James Forest, Eric Trouvé etc. exceptional bread shall continue to be produced in France.