Did you know?
A “baguette de tradition “ or traditional baguette is legally protected in France. A traditional baguette must weigh at least 250g, be between 45 and 55 centimeters in length, and can only be made with 5 ingredients: traditional bread flour (a flour that is also legally protected, which is very pure and contains no additives), water, salt, yeast and/or levain (wild yeast, or sourdough).
If baguette fraud is suspected, a bakery risks being inspected by the “baguette police”, sent by the Syndicat des Boulangers-Pâtissiers de France (Baker-Pastry Chef Guild of France), who have the power to levy a fine or remove the word “boulangerie” from the place of business.
Why use French Flour?
In the USA, bread is big business in the hands of big industry. Big industry requires American wheat farmers to grow a very few species of wheat, that have been selectively bred / hybridized to have a higher gluten content. More gluten equals more elasticity which equals more air in the bread (volume) with equals…..higher profits. There are great profit margins to be had when selling air. As pertaining to bread, Americans live their whole lives having little or no diversity in their diet because all bread products are made from the same species of wheat.
In France, French farmers pride themselves on keeping many heirloom varieties of wheat in circulation. These French farmers sell their wheat to local flour mills. The flour mills sell their local flour to local bakeries who in turn sell their bread to locals. Though the French eat an incredible amount of gluten-rich products, thanks to the diversity of wheat in their diet, they do not struggle with gluten intolerance as we Americans do.
Beyond the argument of wheat diversity and hybridization, you have the relaxed American rules on pesticides, additives, product transparency and traceability. In Europe, there is a higher responsibility of companies to sell safe, transparent and traceable food products. Though we have the FDA, much of the American system relies on consumers to do their due diligence, instead of restricting commerce.
