French and Swiss Bread Withdrawal--Help!

The baguettes at Trader Joe's are a reasonable facsimile. Or get the "No Knead Bread" book and do it yourself. You can eat the whole loaf in one sitting if you lack self control. Fresh baked is the key.

I had "real Italian food" withdrawal after coming home from Italy bad - unfortunately, it goes on unabated for almost 9 years (save for some restaurants in NYC). I've never had spaghetti & clams (vongole) like the one in Naples ever again. In all seriousness, isn't there some awesome food in Seattle and Portland, hopefully not too far from you? French bread is just white bread (yes, very yummy though but not healthy as far as breads go)... if you can score their delicious fat-full butter and dijon mustard in a gourmet market, I think you'll be more than halfway there. At least you'll be able to put a lipstick on a pig...(the pig being grocery store bread)

I agree with Sam. Check out the no-knead bread method, it's fool proof and gets you very close to European style bread freshly baked. I work with these recipes: http://chefmichaelsmith.com/recipe/country-bread-city-bread/#.UalHGo7_RUQ It's not quite Bircher Muesli but check out Northern Gold Muesli. And then add plain yoghurt to it. And I actually like it even better than Bircher ;-) Bulk Barn has a muesli mix as well that comes close to it.

I hear you. 1994 was the last time I ate parmesan from the green can ... Once I tasted the fresh stuff in Italy I couldn't go back. Now I find myself buying $10 hunks of parmigiano reggiano on a regular basis. I am beginning to recognize how much we miss French and Swiss bread! How do they do it? How can I re-create it? Well, you can make something tasty at home, but it won't be the same. I've baked bread on and off for years and experimented with various types of flour (King Arthur online has many different types), but never been able to make a really good baguette. I finally took a bread baking class in Paris hoping to find out how to make a real baguette. I learned how to make a decent one at home (it tastes good ... but takes about 24 hours to rise) but it still doesn't have that great crunch that a French baguette has. A couple of notes why: French bakers use levain rather than commercial yeast. That along with the long rising of the dough is what produces those wonderful, uneven air pockets. Our home ovens aren't hot enough and don't have the right humidity to produce that crispy crust. Our flour isn't the same The bread at Whole Foods is pretty good, albeit mass-produced. See if you have some artisan bakeries in your area. We've got a good one that comes to my local Farmer's Market and I buy from him every week and always have some of his bread in my freezer. One thing that I have found is that if you freeze a good baguette right away, you can reheat it in your oven and it gets nice a crispy crust ... so stock up if you find some good bread.

Trader Joe's is one route although it is probably more country style and a bit coarse with a crust that is a bit heavy for some folks. The problem is not only the yeast, it is the gluten in the flour. You might look in a Julia Childs cook book, she spent the better part of a year working on how to make a good French bread using American ingredients.

If you can find it, you need French type 55 flour. Fresh yeast, such as l'hirondelle brand. A tray of water in the bottom of the oven to create humidity and allow the bread to continue to expand for longer. But really, it still won't be the same, will it?

My understanding is the flour here is different ( as Kevin suggests). But Le Panier in downtownnSeattle does a great job with both French breads and pastries. La Macrina in Belltown is good too. As for Muesli, you can find that in specialty stores, but I just make my own.

This probably won't help, because you're on the West Coast. But... ...being a Philadelphia native who hasn't lived there since the 1990s, I sometimes get a hankering for a cheese steak. Of all the places I lived in the US, I couldn't replicate it. Sliced flank steak, onions and melted cheese are easy to find anywhere. But you can't get the right kind of bread, and without the bread, the sandwich just doesn't work. So surprisingly, I can make a decent cheese steak much easier in Europe than just about anywhere in the US outside of the greater Philadelphia area, because the right kind of bread is available here- a baguette, crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside but dense enough to absorb the grease of the meat without disintegrating. So if you're on the east coast, try heading to a bakery in the Philadelphia area. The German influence is still strong enough that you can also get pretty good dark bread as well.

Follow-up on Tom's cheese steak information.
If in the Philly area it's Amoroso's products that you really want to get. it's their rolls that make our hoagies and cheese steaks what they are.

Becky, you can buy French bread at Pike's place Market in Seattle. Swiss bread (it's the same or very similar to German, Austrian, Czech bread)is sold in Russian stores. They are all over. Seattle, Bellevue, Federal Way, Auburn and other places probably, too. Check the one on intersection of Aurora and North 135 th Street in north Seattle. Very good is Landbrot and then there are some Russian breads also very good. The name of the store is (I think) European Deli or so. I heard that there are two Russian stores in Bellevue (I guess it's closer to you). To bake it yourself is a little problem - you need special kind of flour otherwise it tastes differently.

Thanks everyone! So many great ideas... I'll have to try them out! A trip to the east coast is not in the cards right now, but I'll definitely keep that in mind the next time I'm there. I'm going to try that bakery in Seattle, Lola, so thanks! If you have the time, I would love a PM with the recipe for the muesli :). I suppose what I really need to be doing is beginning to plan our next trip back over! Until then, I will experiment, and dream of French food. Thanks!
Becky

Becky, nice thread. I was in Paris a couple of weeks ago and the first morning I had coffee with warm milk and a baguette with apricot jam. I almost cried. I savored the moment and am planning my next trip! We have a Trader Joe's nearby and I will make sure to try their bread soon!

My local TJs has fresh French bread delivered daily from a one-of-a-kind artisanal bakery nearby. The bread is probably not the same at every store.