French bread is bread made from white wheat flour that has a strong and chewy crust. The interior of the bread is full of bubbles, often due to the use of sourdough starters to prepare the bread, though not all French bread is sourdough. Usually the bread is shaped into a torpedo, batard, or baguette style. In France, the baguette form is standard, and bakers may prepare this type several times a day so people have access to fresh bread for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a late-night snack.

There are now many bakers throughout the world who prepare some variant of French bread. Getting the crust to be crisp and chewy is generally the hardest part. This is especially the case if the bread must be wrapped in plastic. It will quickly be soft instead of hard and chewy. In the US, you’re most likely to find this bread in the form of sourdough bread made by bakers in San Francisco and the surrounding areas. You have to buy it fresh, and it’s normally bagged in paper bags to retain that outer chewy texture that is so desirable. Though many associate the bread with San Francisco, the French style is not usually made with a sourdough starter in France.

French bread doesn’t store well. It will be hard within a day of purchase if you don’t wrap it in plastic. You can often restore some softness to the bread by heating it. So it is okay to buy it a day ahead if you’re planning on heating it up. Some people may find even re-heated French bread a little challenging to eat, and may be an acquired taste.

If you want to get that special crispy crust on French bread packed in plastic, again, heating it up can help make it crispier. It won’t quite have the thick brown crust that you’d be accustomed to in a more authentic version. Yet it can make for a good substitute.

As far as ingredients are concerned, French bread is vastly simple. It should contain only flour, yeast, water and salt. If you note other ingredients like vegetable oil or emulsifiers, you’re generally eating inferior bread. The simplicity of ingredients makes this bread a fantastic accompaniment to virtually anything. Some Europeans enjoy their bread with slices of chocolate on it, or Nutella®. Otherwise it can be dipped in sauces, spread with butter or mayonnaise, used for sandwiches, or just eaten plain and hot.