Baguette

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For the architectural ornament, see molding (decorative).

A baguette (French: stick) is a variety of bread distinguishable by its much greater length than width, and noted for their very crispy crust. A standard baguette is five or six centimeters wide and three or four centimeters tall, but can be up to a meter in length. It is also known in English as a French stick or a French loaf.

Shorter baguettes are very often used for sandwiches. These sandwich-sized loafs are sometimes known as demi-baguettes or tiers or "laboyries". Baguettes can also be sliced and are often served with pâté or cheeses. As part of the traditional continental breakfast in France, slices of baguette are spread with jam and dunked in bowls of coffee or hot chocolate.

Baguettes are seen as closely connected to France and especially to Paris, though they are available around the world. In France, not all long loaves are baguettes — for example, a standard thicker stick is a flûte and a thinner loaf is a ficelle.

French food laws define bread as a product containing only the following four ingredients: water, flour, yeast, and salt. The addition of any other ingredient to the basic recipe requires the baker to use a different name for the final product.

The baguette is a descendant of the bread developed in Vienna in the mid-19th century when steam ovens were first brought into use, helping to make possible the crisp crust and the white crumb pitted with holes that still distinguish the modern baguette. Long loaves had been made for some time but in October 1920 a law prevented bakers from working before 4am, making it impossible to make the traditional, often round loaf in time for customers' breakfasts. The slender baguette solved the problem because it could be prepared and baked much more rapidly. [1]

The French government recently codified into law a specific type of baguette, the "baguette de tradition", which can only be made using pre-modern methods. This classification was the result of the efforts of historian Steven Kaplan, who specializes in the history of French bread from 1700 - 1770. Kaplan called upon the French to reject the modern baguette - which he denounced as a "tasteless, odorless monstrosity" - in favor of more flavorful, original types of French bread. The key, Kaplan's research suggested, is the 18th century practice of allowing the yeast to develop overnight, which results in bread with a cream-colored interior (rather than the familiar white) and a much more pronounced flavor and smell which puts the modern baguette to shame.

Freshly baked baguettes

In recent years, an amusing myth about the history of the baguette has sprung up, probably created by the imagination of Madison Avenue's advertising industry, according to some sources. The story goes that the baguette was developed during Napoleon's campaigns against the Russians. His soldiers were told to pack extra clothes for the cold weather in the East but this left minimal space for food. The baguette was shaped so that it could be stored down the soldiers' trouser legs. The myth becomes less convincing, however, when it is known that Napoleon's armies travelled with mobile bakery units,[2] making it less likely that the individual soldier would have had to carry his own bread. A glance at the uniforms, furthermore, will dispel any remaining suspicion that the trouser legs might have had room for loaves of bread. [3]