Running Head: BAGUETTES

Baguettes
Kerry Nefferdorf
CIV

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Baguettes

The baguette is a well-known and loved symbol of French culture. As they are eaten with
every meal of the day, baguettes make up 80% of the bread sold in France.
The formula for baguettes is pretty standard. It has the same four ingredients as most
other breads: flour, water, yeast and salt. It is not a particularly wet dough, with water at 65%.
The lack of sugar, eggs or fat classifies it as a lean dough, which allows it to be baked at high
temperatures (400-500 degrees). Steam is injected into the oven during the first several minutes
of baking, which ensures a crisp crust and a soft interior. It should be 60-70cm in length and
weigh 250-300 grams, and there are always five slashes across the top.
Long breads have been common in France since the time of Louis XIV, although long
thin breads came a bit later. The invention of steam ovens, as well as the increasing availability
of white wheat flours in the mid-late 1800s, contributed to the development of what we now
know as the baguette. In 1920, a law was passed in France making it illegal for Bakers to work
before 4am. This made it impossible for boules to be baked in time for breakfast, so the baguette
became popular. As it is a much narrower, thinner bread, it both rises and bakes much faster than
a boule. This is also when the name baguette, meaning wand or baton, came into common
usage.
After the French Revolution, strict regulations were placed on regular breads as far as
weight and price in order to foster equality. (A major contributing factor for the Revolution was
the lower classes desire to be able to eat the same bread as the upper classes.) Breads that
exceeded the maximum allowable length were exempt from these regulations. In the 1800s,
French breads were sometimes 6 feet long or longer. (Todays baguettes are around 2 feet long.)

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The baguette, perhaps the worlds most famous bread, has been shaped by the hands of
history and are, as such, a delicious and evocative symbol of French culture.

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Bibliography

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http://www.abigailsbakery.com/breadrecipes/breadhistoryfrench.htm
BriefSketchoftheHistoryofBreadandBaguettes.(n.d.).Retrieved128,2015,fromRetrodorLa
TraditionDuPain:http://www.retrodor.com/en/index.php/breadinthefrenchtradition/history
ofbreadandbaguettes
Gisslen,W.(2013).ProfessionalBaking(Sixthed.).Hoboken,NJ,UnitedStatesofAmerica:John
Wiley&Sons.
Saint,K.(2015).HistoryoftheBaguette.Retrieved128,2015,fromTheGoodLifeFrance:
http://www.thegoodlifefrance.com/historybaguette/
Thebaguette.(n.d.).Retrieved128,2015,fromFrance.frTheOfficialWebsiteofFrance:
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