[Sca-cooks] hard French baguettes

[Terry Decker]

One of the joys of a real French baguette (as opposed to a fairly dense 
bread in a baguette shape) is the crust is thin and crisp and the inside is 
very light with lots of air hole in the crumb.  If you store bread in a 
plastic bag the interior moisture softens the crust.  The plastic bag with 
holes reduces direct contact to the air, but lets the moisture in the bag 
escape, keeping the crust crisp.

Bear

> They also come in special plastic bags perforated with thousands of  tiny 
> holes, which probably increases their rate of drying out. I  don't see 
> this special plastic bag on most other breads. What's the  purpose of the 
> special bag?
>
> Stefan