Comments on: Mon pain quotidien – Simple white bread

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:58:55 +0000

Dear Fanny:
Congratulations for your blog.
I am doing research on Bread Braiding and even though I have experience with bread making I need a simple bread recipe to experiment with.
Do you think Dan Lepard’s “Simple White Bread” would be adequate for my purposes?
thank you
Rob

By: Sasa

Sasa — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:48:09 +0000

Fanny, I have just been perusing your archives and you are, though I’m sure you’re often told, adorable. I so hear you on the flour sitch; I am a Kiwi (loved the NZ posts!) but I live in western Austria with my boyfriend and bread flour is the one with a high ash content so while technically it is high in gluten, it’s also not very white…OK for some stuff but pretty undesirable in others, meh. I WANT STRONG FLOUR! And molasses and golden syrup among other things but that’s another story.

By: jenny

jenny — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:11:01 +0000

how much dry yeast I would use for this recipecan you tell me

By: john r

john r — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 20:00:39 +0000

Hi Fanny:
I have to say I disagree with you about flour – I live in the UK, and when I go to France I am sure to bring back some T55 with me!
You are right about the North American flour having higher protein, but there are important differences from French and Italian flour. Prarie flour is made from red wheat, continental from white. Red has the higher gluten content and rises better. If you compare them side-by-side, you will notice that the Nth American stuff is slightly grey – you can see this better in the bread – whereas flour from white wheat is white. There is a clear difference in taste; bread from red wheat has an unpleasant sour taste and is less ‘wheatier’.
OK, I notice you have a qualification in food technology and I have a question about kneading. Dan Lepard uses a limited kneading method that worked well for you (and for me too); also maybe you have seen on the internet recipes for “no-knead” bread? (google it if not). My question is – why do these methods work? Most of the recipes really emphasise the need (knead;-)) for rough physical treatment of the dough. Maybe it’s because if you have high hydration, the hydrophobic glutenin and gliadin molecules find each other more easily?
bests
John

By: avital

avital — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:17:26 +0000

la T65 est aussi une farine blanche, je l’utilise souvent à la place de la bread flour, c’est celle qui contient le taux de proteines le plus important 11 à 12% par rapport aux 8_9% de la T55. Et la farine de tradition est plus souvent de la T65. La méthode utilisée ici est un peu celle des rabats de ma baguette tradition:
http://sandrakavital.blogspot.com/2005/09/la-baguette-de-tradition.html

elle consiste à donner de la force à la pâte qui est très hydratée. En pétrissant (en réalité, on rabat ie on replie la pâte sur elle-même) toutes les 10 min on réincorpore de l’air.
C’est marrant, tu as gardé de Londres ton amour des pains moulés ;))

By: Sil BsAs

Sil BsAs — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 03:01:05 +0000

In Argentina we have “harina 000″ for bread making and “harina 0000″ for pastry and that’s it, whether you like it or not… and we don’t have those fantastic Pattiserie…so girl, consider yourself lucky (and yes, crazy! one post a day , oh god, it must be sooo time consuming)

By: DaviMack

DaviMack — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 21:29:42 +0000

Hey! I must just say that I’ve recently come from the US to the UK and am very happy to have lower gluten flours! You can always add gluten, but you can’t get it out of things, if you want a softer bread!

By: Rosa

Rosa — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 17:35:24 +0000

There is an organic flour available at Monoprix that is type 65, and that’s what I often use for bread with good results – though I sometimes mix it with type 80 or 110 flours from the organic shop. I suppose they have less gluten, but I like the flavour and colour of rougher flours.

By: Lucy Vanel

Lucy Vanel — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:50:12 +0000

I have got to get my dough on the breadboard, and this is the perfect way to do it, Fanny. American cake flour is close to French type 55. Whenever I bake from American recipes here in France I use 55! Nothing’s closer. I wrote a list about what I wanted for dinner. Split pea soup, home baked bread, and salad. The perfect autumn dinner. This is my goal tomorrow, and I will use your recipe for the bread!

By: Julie O'Hara

Julie O'Hara — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:31:56 +0000

Fanny,
I would live in France in a heartbeat, but London is my dream city too. I lived there for 9 months and it is still my favorite place. Now I’m living in Florida:( But not forever, of course. I did not know the facts about French flour, and it’s very interesting. I enjoyed this post!
Julie