Recipe #16: French Bread
“Like the sun in all its glory suddenly breaking through the shades of gloom.”
So wrote Julia Child after finally succeeding in making real French bread. Her struggle to achieve the elusive crunchy crust drove her and her husband Paul to Professor Calvel, of L’Ecole Francaise de Meunerie in Paris, who shared his secrets.
The trick was to simulate a baker’s oven, with a hot surface for the bread to bake on and steam to form the crust. Paul discovered he could line their big Garland range with quarry tiles, which held the heat beautifully. While the bread baked, he created a burst of steam by dropping a brick into a pan of water in the oven’s bottom. Thereafter, this small stack of quarry tiles remained on a shelf above the range, ready for use in making French bread, this week’s recipe.
This week Team Julia members Nanci Edwards, Rayna Green, and Paula Johnson tackle Julia’s deliciously crusty, French bread.
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—Posted by the National Museum of American History
