Popular Loaves
There has been an explosion in European-style bread making in Southern California in the last decade. Even breads leavened with wild yeasts are now commonly available in supermarkets. But along the way, some definitions have been blurred. Here are the classics:
Baguette: This long thin loaf is the one most associated with the French. It typically is yeast-raised and has a light, thin crust that crackles and flakes when eaten. The interior crumb has irregular holes and a yeasty flavor. Most baguettes are leavened with commercial yeast.
Ba^tard: Oblong in shape, a ba^tard is a levain, meaning a naturally leavened bread. It’s made with a pre-fermented starter developed from wild yeast. The ba^tard comes in different styles, such as country, which means a small amount of wheat or rye flour has been used to give the bread more texture. The crust is thick and chewy compared to yeasted breads, and the crumb has more holes than a baguette.
Boule: Round and fat, a boule is also a levain. Both boules and batards should be somewhat creamy as opposed to dry when eaten. Boules are popular hollowed-out for serving soups and stews.
Ciabatta: Also known as “slipper bread” because it’s oval and flat, Italy’s ciabatta is made from a wetter dough, resulting in a porous interior with large holes, good for soaking up oils, mustards and other toppings.
How to store bread:
Artisan-style breads, which are usually made from wetter doughs than commercial loaves and without preservatives, go stale at an amazing rate.
Though it seems to be the result of bread drying out, staling actually has to do with chemical changes in the starch molecules. Bread begins to turn stale the moment it is removed from the oven. If it is not too far gone, you can freshen bread merely by heating it.
To preserve freshness as long as possible, keep bread at room temperature, never in the refrigerator, which speeds the staling process. Nancy Silverton of La Brea Bakery recommends storing fresh bread cut-side down on the counter or in a paper bag. Putting bread in a plastic bag will make the crust spongy and the bread mold more quickly, she says in “Nancy Silverton’s Breads From the La Brea Bakery” (Villard, 1996).
Most artisan breads are best eaten soon after baking--the same day, if possible. Breads with higher amounts of fat--or in the case of specialty breads, those made with eggs, sugar, fruits, vegetables or nuts--can keep several days or more when wrapped airtight.
Bread can also be frozen in resealable plastic bags, then thawed at room temperature and crisped a few minutes in a hot oven.
In the end, staling cannot be prevented, only delayed. Use stale bread for bread crumbs or croutons.