[Sca-cooks] French bread, was Cheese, warm or cold

[Lorenz Wieland]

jenne at fiedlerfamily.net wrote:
> Really? That's interesting. Does Lionel do a simple
> flour/leaven/salt/water dough, or does he add any oils/fats? I'm not
> the  best bread baker in the world, but when I do a bread with little or
no
> fats, it tends to get hard quickly, whereas breads with fats stay soft
> longer.

Unfortunately, Lionel died in a helicopter crash last year, so the only
baking he does these days is in the Elysian Fields.  However, his famous
breads were made as a natural sourdough.  Only flour, water, and salt.  He
naturally leavened his starter over four days from wild yeast.

Bear touched on the main reason some no- or low-fat breads go hard
quickly -- surface area and internal structure.  Ambient humidity also makes
a big difference (never store your bread in the fridge or in plastic).  Long
baguettes with an airy center tend to dry quicker than larger, rounder
loaves.  The Poilane bakery is mainly known for its miches and boules, and
the dough is fairly dense compared to your typical French-style baguette.

For all the gory details, I highly recommend Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's
Apprentice."  Great book.

-Lorenz