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leucadian's blog

April 7, 2010 - 8:10am
leucadian's picture
leucadian

Fougasse

Fougasse is my favorite easy sourdough: I love the extra crust and the ease of pulling it apart. I made these with my version of Pierre Nury's and Zolablues Light rye: 65% hydration 5% rye, 20% levain (approximate) and 1.8% salt. The levain was kept in the fridge for a couple of days before I made this bread. Overnight retard following minimum stretching/folding. Rolled in poppy seeds and fennel seeds, brushed with olive oil, baked on stone 500/400 degrees F.

 

December 3, 2008 - 11:40pm
leucadian's picture
leucadian

French baking terms

I am attempting to read Janedo's baking blog 'Au Levain', having gotten hooked on the automatic translation that kept translating 'baguette' into 'stick' or 'wand'. I always wanted to learn French, and this seemed like a good motivation. What a treat to visit Anis Bouabsa and Patisserie Poilane. Very cool. As part of the exercise, I made a list of some baking terms. I thought I'd share them here, with the hope of getting some free proofreading and editorial comments.

Thanks,
Stewart  (edited with new words and pronunciation hints 9 Dec 08)

  Vocabulaire du boulanger A baker's vocabulary
  Stewart Walton   9 décembre 2008
       
  ajouter to add ah joo TAY
  alveolée with lots of holes ahl vee oh LAY
le apprêt second fermentation ah PREH
la autolyse autolyse, enzymatic rest auto LEES
la baguette long thin loaf, 'stick'  bah GET
le banneton basket for proofing ban net TAWN
le bâtard thicker loaf, 'bastard' bah TARD
le blé wheat blay
le bol bowl ball
la boule round loaf bool
la bouillie boiled mush boo YEE
la buée steam in the oven biew WAY (first part like view)
  chauffer to heat show FAY
le chef starter, 'chief' shef
la clé seam on shaped dough, 'key' clay
la couche dusted towel for proofing coosh
la coupe cut,score coop
  croquant crisp crow CON
  croustillant crisp crew steel YAHN
la croûte crust crewt
la cuiller spoon (not a common spelling) coo YAY
la cuillère spoon coo YAY
  cuire to cook queer
la détente rest before shaping day TAHN
  diviser to divide, cut to loaf size dee vee SAY
l' eau water oh
l' épeautre spelt ('grand épeautre) eh PAW truh
l' épi 'head' of wheat eh PEE
le façonnage shaping fa sown AHJ
la farine flour fah REEN
la fermentation fermentation  fir mahn tah SEE OWN
la ficelle very thin loaf, 'string' fee SELL
le four oven foor
le frasage simple mixing of ingredients  frah SAHJ
le frigo refrigerator free GO
le gluten gluten gloo TAN
  gonfler to rise, inflate, oven spring gone FLAY
le grigne expanded slashes on loaf green
le grignon most well baked part of loaf green YON
la huile oil we
la  humidification humidity oo mee dee FEE cah SEE OWN
la hydratation hydration heed rah tah SEE OWN
le lait milk lay
la lame blade lahm
le levain sourdough luh VAN
la levée rising, proofing luh VAY
la levure commercial yeast luh VIEW(e)R
  mélanger to mix meh lahn JAY
  mettre to put, to place met ruh
la miche large round loaf meesh
la mie crumb mee
le miel honey mee ELL
  mise en forme shaping  mees on form
le pain bread pan
la pâte dough pot
le pâton shaped dough pot OWN
le petit pain roll ptee pan
le pétrin bread trough or kneading machine pet TRAN
  pétrir to knead pet TREAR
le pétrissage process of kneading  pet tree SAHJ
la pierre stone pee YAYR
le pliage degas (stretch,  fold, or punch), 'pleat' plea AHJ
le pointage  first fermentation pwahn TAHJ
la poolish high hydration yeast starter POH lish
le rabat degas (see pliage), a hunting term  'beat the bushes' rob BAH
le seigle rye SEE gluh
le sel salt sell
le sucre sugar SUE cruh
le taux ratio, percentage tow
le torchon towel tore SHAWN
le trou hole TRUE
la vapeur steam vah PURE
       
  Note on my attempt at phonetic pronunciation for English speakers:
  Pronouncing these words as I have indicated will bring peals of laughter from anyone who speaks French, but they should be able to understand what you are saying. The French 'r' is hard for most Americans, so don't worry about it. Try running all the syllables together, and say the word fast. The words will sound better that way. Most of the syllables have been rendered as English words or at least something that could be pronounced with English pronunciation conventions (as if there were any). If there was no close equivalent, I resorted to the following conventions:
       
  ah combination is always pronounced  as in 'lah dee dah'.
  oo combination is always pronounced  as in 'boot, root, scoop'.
  uh combination is always pronounced as in 'uh, I dunno', and can be dropped at the end of a word..
  ahj combination is always pronounced as in 'fusilage garage'.
  Most 'n's in French are nasal: it's the n sound in 'long' before you say the g.
       
  The baking process mostly from Joe Ortiz 'The Village Baker'  
le pétrissage mixing and kneading  
la repos rest to hydrate during mixing  
le pointage first rising, also called 'première fermentation'
  Donner un tour degassing, 'give a turn', same as pliage or rabat
le pésage scaling, also 'diviser' dividing  
le détente intermediate rising, 'relaxing'  
le façonnage shaping  
le apprêt final proofing, 'preparation', also called 'deuxième fermentation'
le coup de lame slashing, 'cut with blade'  
la cuisson baking  
  I started this list in order to read Janedo's blogs on www.freshloaf.com and www.aulevain.canalblog.com.  I have gotten lots of help from friends on the Fresh Loaf.  I used Langensheidt's French Pocket Dictionary for most of the ordinary words.
  A final disclaimer: I'm learning French. I don't speak it very well. Comments and corrections are always welcome.
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