Hey everyone,
I’m trying to find bakers — on Instagram, YouTube, or blogs — who bake with European flours (like French or Italian) and still manage to achieve those super open, lacy crumbs like in the pictures.
Most of the popular bakers I follow seem to use North American flours, and while their results are amazing, I often struggle to replicate them using European flour types.
Do you know of any creators who focus on baking with these kinds of flours and still get great structure and oven spring? Would love to follow their work!
Thanks in advance!
by Medical_Yam2991
21 Comments
I get that it looks pretty but doesn’t that much space make the bread useless for pretty much anything except… dipping into something?
I’m assuming all bread flour but don’t know about specific brands. I think the hydration is key though… higher hydration will produce a more open crumb. Try looking up pain de crystal recipes.
With that said, crumb like this comes from nailing every step of the process perfectly (gluten formation, bulk fermentation, etc) which is why it’s so coveted by sourdough bakers.
Maybe you don’t want to do this but you could just add wheat gluten to European flour to up the protein content. As far as I know there isn’t any European flour with as high protein content as Manitoba flour.
Check out Claudio Perrando – https://www.instagram.com/claudio.perrando?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Btw, I think Adelina from Breadstalker puts egg white in her dough to get that crumb. Not that she’s not an amazing baker but she’s got tricks!
Guys your answers are all very nice but not what I am looking for. I’m asking for people making those kundig breads with European flour.
Do you use Instagram? Check out a baker with the handle ‘sourly’. His name is Alessandro Sogno.
Why though? These crumbs are good for internet clout and nothing else. Personally, I make bread to eat, not to show off to people I don’t know.
wheres the bread? its like a bag of chips.
jk these look great. probably a lot of high hydration with high ash% flours.
This says it can handle 80% + hydration
https://farineracoromina.com/en/producte/galician-bread-flour/
I follow some on Instagram: @thegoodstuffedinburgh is a sourdough master.
@cook_as_you_feel_it also has amazing baking, including sourdough but is more eclectic. @sourdoughsophia is a baker in London. @david76delgado is in the Canary Islands. @illebrod is in Oslo. Finally, @_flour_water_salt is a great cheeky sourdough page.
This is Breakstalker on IG. I followed her and read her book. I was able to improve my sourdough for sure but mine still looks nothing like this. I’m not sure what the missing variable is with her bread that makes it look insanely open but I haven’t been able to figure it out.
If you’re on FB there are a few in BreadClub20 who’ve cracked it. 110% hydration!!
Maybe you won’t find one that does that in Europe because Europeans make bread to eat it, not to show it.
Look into getting flour that is labelled as premium panettone flour or manitoba flour, those have the highest/best quality proteins in european flours and can handle lots of water. Marcel Paa is a Swiss baker who has made a pan de cristal that looks like your pictures using these flours.
Full proof baking (whose loaves these are) has awesome tutorials for her bakes. Check out her Instagram or YouTube. She adds a lamination step that has given me great results but of course I’m still after her dough strength.
This is all technique. Really high hydration, good handling, and timing is the key to a super open crumb.
Why eat air?
I think you can find what you are looking for from Marcel Paa.
He has a homepage, tons of YouTube channels and insta.
The Italian brand Caputo has some high (ish) protein flours btw.
They aren’t cheap (at least in Germany) but the flour quality is amazing.
Looks like Pan de Cristal (Glass Bread) which originally comes from the Catalan region of Spain.
So specifically target bakers online from Spain.
It’s a high hydration dough and will need a flour high in protein (Type 750, Caputo Manitoba, etc is what I’m reading). Apparently a lot of European breads use a soft winter wheat (like the American South grows) so see if you can find a hard winter wheat as it typically has a naturally higher protein content as well.
I don’t get why people like bread like this? Where the fuck does the peanut butter and jelly go? Where do you put butter on it? Where do you mash avocado on there? You can’t! And I bet you anything the taste is similar to what I make at home.
Try some Caputo Manitoba with 80% hydration.