French Bread

Yesterday I made for the first time french bread.  I was motivated by purchasing at my local Salvage Store a Chicago Metallic Commercial baking pan for 2 French Loaves.  I've always assumed that French bread was fairly simple to make.  There is quite a bit of technique involved.  The Joy of Baking is a fabulous place to get started if you have a hankering to learn how to make this heavenly bread.




What I liked about this video (which I watched after I made my bread), is that it is a terrific exposition of both the craft/technique of making this bread.  It is TOTALLY different than any other bread that I have made.

What's the difference?  Well, it is a room temperature process.  Not using warm water.  Not using a warm place to rise.  I didn't fully understand this when I used the directions from FineCooking.  Rather, I used warm water (and they said to use tepid water, and I just didn't understand that reasoning.  Ignorance on my part).

The JoB video has great commentary regarding what one is trying to accomplish with the special techniques.  So while I undertook my bread baking journey partially ignorant, my end result was spectacular.  There are several different techniques out there.  Why not undertake a French bread bake?