FRENCH BREAD

Here’s a short guide to French bread:

Baguette: the word means “wand”, and this is the cheapest and most popular bread, varying from excellent to mediocre. It will lasts a day at the most, and comes in three forms: ‘ordinary’, with a crisp golden crust; ‘baguette moulée’, manufactured in an industrial bread oven, and recognised by a fine lattice pattern on the underside; ‘baguette farinée’, which is paler in colour because the crust has been covered with flour before cooking.

Baguette (or pain) aux céréales: a slightly healthier version made from wholegrain flour with added fibre from seeds and grains. Also comes in the form of a pavé — a loaf.

Batard: a half-length baguette.

Brioche: a buttery sweet bread, perfect for bread-and-butter pudding, although it rarely lasts that long!

Couronne: bread in the shape of a ring.

Flute: a fatter baguette, twice the size of a baguette, with a higher ratio of dough to crust. Ficelle: a long and thin baguette, with a lot of crust. The ficelle does need to be eaten promptly as the inside dries out very quickly.

Pain de campagne:  ‘country’ bread, suitable for meats, cheeses and soups with a thick crust and dense wholegrain dough, and certain to last more than a day.

Pain complet: wholegrain loaf.

Pain levain: sourdough bread. Slightly acidic, and goes well with strong flavours such as smoked salmon and foie gras.

Pain de mie: is the closest you’ll get to a traditional British (or American) loaf, though you will rarely find it in boulangeries—you’ll have to try the supermarket.

Pain aux noix: as the name suggests, bread spiced with nuts

Pain de seigle: rye bread. Less intense rye flavour than its northern European equivalent, because it is diluted with white flour.

Pain au chocolat is a light buttery individual bread flavoured with chocolate, sometimes called a chocolatine.