List of French breads explained

This is a list of notable French breads, consisting of breads that originated in France.

• Baguette – a long, thin type of bread of French origin.^[1] The "baguette de tradition française" is made from wheat flour, water, yeast, and common salt. It may contain up to 2% broad bean flour, up to 0.5% soya flour, and up to 0.3% wheat malt flour.^[2]
• Boule de pain – a traditional shape of French bread resembling a squashed ball. It is traditionally prepared using only bread flour, salt, a leavening agent and water.
• Brioche – has a high egg and butter content, which gives it a rich, tender and tight crumb.
• Croissant – a buttery, flaky, French viennoiserie pastry inspired by the shape of the Austrian kipferl but using the French yeast-leavened laminated dough.^[3] Croissants are named for their historical crescent shape, the dough is layered with butter, rolled and folded several times in succession, then rolled into a thin sheet, in a technique called laminating. The process results in a layered, flaky texture, similar to a puff pastry.
• Faluche – a pale white bread that is a traditional bread in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of northern France and the Tournai region of southern Belgium.
• Ficelle – a type of French bread loaf, made with yeast and similar to a baguette but much thinner.
• Fougasse – typically associated with Provence but found (with variations) in other regions. Some versions are sculpted or slashed into a pattern resembling an ear of wheat.
• Pain aux noix – prepared using whole grain wheat flour and walnuts
• Pain brié – a traditional Normandy bread, its name comes from the pounding of the dough, as "brie" is derived from the Old Norman verb brier, meaning "to pound". It has a tight crumb and is a "fairly dense loaf".
• Pain complet – prepared using whole wheat flour, it is moist and has a tight crumb texture. It is sometimes prepard using a mix of wheat and white flour.
• Pain couronne – named "bread crown" in French for its shaping, it consists of small sourdough rolls that are torn off from the main loaf.
• Pain d’épices – French for "spice bread", this is a rye quick bread that includes spices such as cinnamon and honey.
• Pain de campagne – French for "country bread", and also called "French sourdough",^[4] it is typically a large round loaf (miche) made from either natural leavening or baker's yeast. Most traditional versions of this bread are made with a combination of white flour with whole wheat flour and/or rye flour, water, leavening and salt.
• Pain de mie – a white or brown bread with a thin, soft crust. It is used as a sandwich bread at times.
• Pain de seigle – a rye bread with flavor notes of chocolate and malt

See also

• Crackling bread – Pompe aux grattons or brioche aux griaudes, in the cuisine of central France, is a bread, tart, or brioche that incorporates cracklings. It is a specialty of the Bourbonnais.^[5]

• List of breads
• List of American breads
• List of British breads
• List of Indian breads
• List of Pakistani breads
• List of Uruguayan breads

Further reading

• Book: Richards, P. . Baker's Bread . Bakers' Helper Company . 1918 . July 15, 2022 . 46–50.
• Book: Clayton, B. . The Breads of France: And How to Bake Them in Your Own Kitchen . Ten Speed Press . 2002 . 978-1-58008-389-8 . July 15, 2022.
• Book: Fréchet, M.L. . Abraham . B. . Upper Crust : Homemade Bread the French Way . Flammarion . Langue anglaise . 2021 . 978-2-08-026378-0 . July 15, 2022.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Baguette . Cambridge English Dictionary . July 13, 2022 . July 15, 2022.
2. Web site: Détail d'un texte . fr . Legifrance.gouv.fr . 17 September 2011.
3. Book: Chevallier, Jim . August Zang and the french croissant : how viennoiserie came to France . 2009 . Chez Jim Books . 978-1-4486-6784-0 . 903249778.
4. Web site: Pain de Campange . . Lynne . Olver . Lynne Olver.
5. François-Régis Gaudry, Let's Eat France,, p. 382