cheska15

When I was growing up my mother would make us bread and milk. Had to be stale bread ripped up into chunks boiled on the stove then sugar added. We nine children loved it. Filling as well. Then Mum started making it for her grandchildren and most of them loved it too. Not sure if it was because Granny made it. My husband thinks it is revolting. Mum also made bread and butter pudding.
I always thought of these types of food as 'poor people's food' and that it was passed on to us Aussies from the Brits. If only Mum was here so I could tell her that French people ate bread and milk. She would be impressed.

fuzzbucket

Bread salad is very good - any kind of stale bread, covered with tomatoes, olives, maybe some tuna, beans, vinaigrette...

bilboburgler

P she may have been punning with Trompe-l'œil which sounds very similar

kerouac

You can only use a certain number of bread crumbs or eat bread pudding or French toast until you can't stand to look at it anymore. But this was not meant to be a discussion of what we do with our leftover bread at home.

Most unsold bread is 1) given away, generally to charities, 2) sold at a discount, 3) recycled with organic waste.

One should hope that the artisans keep close track of almost exactly what they will need every day and have very little left over. As for the non artisan bakers, they have even less of a problem since all they have to do is get more dough sticks out of the freezer when they are running low. It only takes about 15 minutes to bake new baguettes. And even though most non artisan bread is not all that great (but fans of industrial places like Paul or Eric Kayser might disagree), it does have the upside of having have fresh warm baguettes more regularly throughout the day.

As for this statement:

<i>In my experience French bread is some of the worst in Europe (beaten only by some Italian, though even that is beginning to turn the corner). It is almost like northern European bread is wonderful and the further south you go it just gets worse and worse.</i>

... that is just a matter of personal taste. The bread of northern countries is full of sugar, whereas the bread of southern countries has more salt. If you prefer the sugary soft product, it is not easy to like the salty crusty product.

fuzzbucket

There are two kinds of baguettes:

Regular - sometimes called "Parisiennes" - made of bleached white flour, water, sugar, salt, sometimes oil and industrial fast-rising yeast.

"Une Tradition" - made of unbleached flour, water, salt and levain (sourdough starter).

Une Tradition usually costs a few centimes more, but is worth it.

bilboburgler

K, don't worry I am a salt man much as my doctor wishes I was not of course it is matter of personal taste (though I bake myself 6 times a week), I just don't happen to like white flour, and when I find brown/whole meal flour loaves in France I can get by.

Apart from using white flour the B has virtually no fat in it which makes it attractive to those dieting.

The steam oven makes up for a lot though

Pvoyageuse

"Regular - sometimes called "Parisiennes" - made of bleached white flour, water, sugar, salt, sometimes oil and industrial fast-rising yeast."
There is no sugar in baguettee whether regular or traditional.

kerouac

The baguette "tradition" is just a name and has nothing to do with tradition. In fact, it was just invented in 1993.

I continue to prefer normal baguettes because I don't like the dusting of loose flour on the others.

bvlenci

What Northern European bread has sugar in it? I make traditional Irish brown soda bread at home, and have never put sugar in it.

WoinParis

Bread with sugar is not european, I agree.
Neither is ham with honey and such.

fuzzbucket

Sometimes the sugar is disguised - especially in industrial breads.
Many boulangeries use industrial products.

kerouac

Yeast already has sugar in it, and the amount of sugar in yeast can be quite variable.

And just for fun, since I believe that a number of Americans use this site as well, here is the composition of a popular brand of American whole wheat bread:

<i>Ingredients: Whole wheat flour, water, enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), wheat gluten, <b>brown sugar, honey</b>, sunflower seed kernels, yeast, rolled oats, contains 2% or less of each of the following: salt, soybean oil, cultured wheat flour, vinegar, dough conditioners (may contain one or more of the following: sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium stearoyl-2-lactylate, mono- and diglycerides, calcium peroxide, calcium iodate, DATEM, ethoxylated mono- and diglycerides, azodicarbonamide), wheat bran, rye flakes, barley flakes, soy flour, buckwheat flour, bulgur wheat, cracked wheat, triticale, yellow corn grits, millet, soy grits, ground flaxseed, brown rice flour, calcium sulfate, soy lecithin, wheat starch, enzymes.</i>

PalenQ

When my my son's French mama was here she remarked that the bread at Panera Bread tasted better to her than the baguettes she gets from the local Carrefour (who bakes them on site like any boulangerie).

I like the Pain sans Sel too.

Macross

I love the French butter more than the bread. Bread and butter pudding with the leftovers.

bvlenci

<i> <b> What Northern European bread has sugar in it? </b></i>
...
<i> Yeast already has sugar in it, </i>

Oh, so southern European bread has no yeast?

WoinParis

Kerouac meant 'no ADDED' sugar. But it was difficult to understand, I guess.

There is a reason we are not (yet) all overweight in Europe.

kerouac

Yes, bvlenci accidentally deleted the second part of my sentence.

justineparis

I am confused , I am not a huge baker , but I distinctly recall one would add a little bit of sugar ( like 1/2 tsp) TO yeast to help it bloom , before adding yeast to flour .

WoinParis

My wife doesn't add sugar when we bake our own bread.

kerouac

Because yeast already contains sugar.