European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 1, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                La. Barnette is mass marketing ruining French bread by Suzy Patterson the associated press a la Baguette that luscious crusty staff of a Frenchman s life the nourished of his soul. Who would dare tamper with its integrity Bakers who Cut Corners out of greed or sloth said Many participants in a two Day bread seminar in Belley France much of their time and passion were devoted to the state of the Baguette the Long Golden Brown loaf carried Home in the millions each Day by French workers Bankers housewives and schoolchildren. Jacques Puiszis head of the French Institute of taste expressed a mixture of pessimism and optimism Quot of course Quality is a it Eblem in today s world of mass marketing. But we Are trying to preserve traditions and there s still Hope for Good bread."4 per capita bread consumption in France is Western Europe s lowest. It has declined by one third in 70 years to about 120 pounds compared to 175 pounds for the average German according a Survey by the French flour Industry. Appropriately the bread seminar was held on the premises of a food foundation in Belley the Birthplace of 18th-Century gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat Savarin and Halfway Between Lyon and Geneva those taking part were uneasy about Public disaffection and anxious to promote Quality even in supermarket breads speakers observed that the constant evolution of baking techniques and ingredients does not seem to produce consistently better bread. A no wonder people Don t want the Baguette anymore a said Jean Paul Gene a Paris journalist. He had bought one at a local bakery and held it up for All to see. A Quot i Don t even want to taste this soggy example a a he said. Although it is perhaps the most popular bread in France and is known around the world As. Quot French bread a the Baguette is relatively new a i think it appeared around 1900,1910, when White flour came into widespread use Quot said Jean Luc Pou Jaurian who Sells excellent bread at a Small bakery near the Eiffel Tower. Quot the Baguette really took off after world War ii As nearly a luxury item since French people were fed up with Black bread or Corn bread poor wartime substitutes Quot the Baker said. Many types of bread Are available today including Quot organic Quot varieties favored by the health conscious. Pou Jaurian  simpler View Quot you might have manufacturers telling you about 80 kinds of bread but for me there Are two Good bread and the others Quot Philippe Viron a flour Miller from Chartres explained that a Baguette should be Quot irregular and Crunchy to  a the Interior should be creamy not dead White Quot he said Quot and should have natural holes caused by gaseous Phenomena during the natural yeast rising. Pou Jaurian one of France s 38,000 a partisan Bakers Quot said the Quality of bread a might depend on your local Baker. Our Missi Ortis difficult. We train for Many years work our Way up beginning daily at about 3 a.m., and do it Day after  he and others at the conference agreed that Consumers also Are at fault. Pou Jaurian said people apparently have forgotten what wonderful bread tastes like. Also Pou Jaurian declared Quot Young bread making apprentices should be better educated. Bread takes time to make with several risings. Miraculous shortcuts can improve Quantity but Cut Down on  Young Bakers earn a decent wage about $1,000 a month for an apprentice working 35 hours weekly but it is a hard Trade and Pou Jaurian deplored a Lack of capable new Talent. Quot this hard physical work is one reason Why youngsters Are not going into baking Quot said Anne Hudson a radio journalist who specializes in food. Jacques Puiszis who has organized a nationwide program to teach French children How to taste expanded the subject. A there is not one Good bread but Many Quot he said. Quot we have to teach people How to Analyse and remember food each in their own ways they have to be Able to describe food to cultivate a memory for it and then use their knowledge As they go to  Mansel Derrien a Baker and pastry maker who Heads the Gaston Lenotre catering pastry school outside Paris sees the Central question As one of Quot honesty and  Quot Don t talk to me about an easy mix of flour to make French bread Quot he said. A talk about Good and bad bread. And then Well be getting  a a parts Baker with the famous Long thin French bread known As Baguette. Is the key to Good bread by Mary Macvean the associated press flour water yeast and Salt Are the Only ingredients in traditional French bread but they certainly Are not All it takes to make it. Time and toil Are also required and even then the Best efforts of american Home Bakers generally fall Short of the parisian Ideal. Still they persist Little appeals More than fresh bread. A French bread is much imitated but rarely with Complete Success Quot Anne Willan the founder of the Lagarenne cooking school in Paris wrote in her Book Lagarenne Pratique. Willan cites the relatively soft flour used in France and the three slow controlled risings of the dough As among the factors that make recreating the characteristic Baguette difficult. Traditional French bread is made with a cultured yeast and bacteria starter which often is a piece of dough from the previous bread Batch she wrote. For just four ingredients French bread recipes seem hauntingly Long and involved and several of the More expensive cookbooks include photograph directions As Well. A Julia child notes in her 1989 Book the Way to Cook that the food processor. Significantly reduces the work of kneading. But the dough still needs 2v& hours or More depending on the recipe to Rise. Quot whether you Are a Home or a professional Baker you will find that time is really the key to successful bread making Quot a child and Simone Beck wrote in the second volume of the classic mastering the Art of French cooking. Their pre cuisinart recipes they say take a minimum of seven hours including the risings. Quot while you cannot take less Lime you May take As much More time As you wish Quot by using various delaying techniques French Bakers use ovens that inject steam to moisten the surface of the bread As it bakes creating thick and Crunchy crust. Richard Grausman writes in at Home with the French classics. There Are several ways including sprinzing the loaf and pans of water placed in the oven to simulate this. Altitude room temperature and Type of water All affect bread baking Tho French  think of baking their own bread since there Are bakeries in every neighbourhood said Richard Simpson a baking and pastry teacher at Peter Kumpus new York cooking school. Quot americans in Many ways Are More curious than that. They re More tempted to try it Quot he said. But it s no easy task. Recreating French bread is Tough Simpson said because the wheat tastes different and the flour is milled differently. And few americans have steam vented Brick ovens. But Simpson said homemade bread from a Normal oven can be wonderful and seductive. A i Learned to Cook because i Learned to eat first and i could t afford to eat  he said. Quot its an imminently sensual thing it s remarkable when you realize How poor the Basic bread product Loday is Quot impress your friends with homemade bread by Charles Perry the los Angeles times people Are always impressed in you bring fresh bread to a potluck and they Are staggered if you bring this one. Khach Puri a traditional dish of soviet Georgia is baked with a mass of Rich cheese inside making it More or less the most elaborate melted cheese Sandwich in the world. It involves a certain amount of trouble but nol nearly As much As people will assume. The recipe is adapted from the time life Book russian cooking Khachatur georgian cheese bread 2 packages dry yeast sugar to cups lukewarm milk flour 2 Teaspoons Salt i cup butter softened cheese filling Sprinkle yeast and 1 Teaspoon sugar Over milk in Small shallow bowl cover with plastic wrap and. Place in warm place until yeast blooms and mixture nearly doubles in volume 5 to 10 minutes Combine 41 e cups hour 1 Tablespoon sugar and Salt in Large mixing bowl. Make a Well in hour mixture and add Nilk yeast mixture and softened butter. Beat vigorously with Large spoon until smooth. Form info Ball and place on lightly floured surface. Knead hard 10 minutes adding More flour or water As needed to create medium stiff dough. A when dough is smooth and elastic place in Largo lightly buttered bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and Kitchen Towel and let Rise in warm draft free place such As unlit oven with Pilot Light on until doubled in bulk and dough Springs Back slowly when gently poked with Finger 45 minutes to 1 hour. Punch dough Down and let Rise until again doubled 30 to 40 minutes. Punch dough Down and Roll out on lightly floured surface into Circle about 22-inches in diameter. If rolling surface is too Small Divide dough in half and Roll Inlo 2 halt circles 22 by 11 inches. Roll dough up on rolling pin and unroll carefully Over buttered 9-Inch cake or Spring form pan or Spring form so that it is entered with edges overlapping More or less evenly on All sides. If using 2 half circles of dough form 1-Inch seam to make whole Circle and moisten thoroughly to Seal. Carefully press Center of dough Down to Bottom of pan. Place cheese filling on dough and bring up edges of dough Over filling forming thick fabric like folds moisten edges at top and Seal let stand 10 to 15 minutes. Bake at 375 degress in Center of oven on foil in Case filling leaks until Golden Brown. 50 minutes to 1 hour coot 1 to 2 hours before serving makes 12 to 10 Servings Quot. Cheese filling 1 Pound Muenster cheese shredded 2 Tablespoons butter softened 1 egg beaten in Large mixing bowl Combine cheese butter and egg knead vigorously until texture is uniform shape into thick round cake 8 to 7vl> inches in diameter the ultimate potluck to disk to drag Kome by Joan Drake the los Angeles times when i was growing up almost every serving dish in our House had a Little sticker. On it with our family surname this assured its return if my Mother overlooked retrieving it or when someone else took Home what was left after a potluck. Between Church functions family gatherings and my mothers social group meetings we saw a lot of potlucks Over the years i came to realize that mrs. Kransky always brought Corn fritters ant Kene could be counted on for her Graham Cracker pie and Cousin Mildred showed up with a bottle of homemade pickles in addition to whatever else she toted to the event. None of this food was haute cuisine it was just Good old fashioned midwestern cooking. These fond memories and the practicality of sharing the labor to put a meal together make me a Strong advocate of the potluck concept. Only once in my experience a when the hostess did t ask ahead of time what people were bringing a do i Remer top ending up with a rather lopsided assortment of foods. Someone rushed to a local take out Deli for what was needed to round out the meal. To me the ultimate potluck dish is one that does t require dragging anything Back Home. You can accomplish this by using disposable dishes and pans but another answer is to hollow out a loaf of bread and use it As an edible Carrier. As Long As the contents Aren t so liquid that they soak through just about anything can be packed into these bread Quot bowls Quot a Fried Chicken an assortment of cheeses or crud ites with an accompanying dip. You can also layer foods in the bread to create something comparable to an italian Torta Rustica. The Sandwich photographed is made with one Quarter Pound of Cortadella one Quarter Pound of prosciutto one Quarter Pound of provolone Sun dried tomatoes in Oil Goat cheese Basil leaves roasted Sweet red peppers and Pepperoni in use these or adjust the ingredients to Suil personal preference. Slice a Good sized Oblong loaf of crusty bread in half horizontally step 1. Remove the soft Center of the bread with your fingers step 2leaving about a halt Inch Shell. Saule a Clove of minced garlic in a Little Olive Oil and use the mixture to Brush the inside of both bread halves step 3. This not Only adds flavor but helps prevent the bread from getting soggy line the Bottom half of the bread with a layer of Cortadella and place drained Sun dried tomatoes Over the top next crumble on Goat cheese then add layers of Basil leaves prosciutto Slop 4 and provolone repeat these layers until the ingredients Are Well mounded above the bread top the final layer of provolone with alternating pieces of roasted Sweel red peppers and stemmed Pepperoni in before covering with the upper Hall of the bread step 5. Press Down lir my to compact the layers then wrap the Sandwich securely in foil or plastic wrap and in not transporting immediately refrigerate. At the potluck simply Cut the Sandwich diagonally info 1 to 1 Var Inch slices Slep 6 before serving it the event is outdoors and you re not sure a knife will be available slice the Sandwich and re wrap it just before leaving Home slice a loaf of crusty bread in half then hollow out Bruch the Holowed out bread loaf with garlic the soft Center with your fingers. Sauteed in Olla Oil. Layer Meata cheeses dried tomatoes and Baal leaves inside with peppers on the top layer. Lot aft film time 4 Cut the stuffed loaf into i to l the Inch slices. Page 14 the stars and stripes Friday november 1, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 15