Hearth bread

The hearth bread (also known as rustic bread, artisan bread, sometimes "French bread") is a "freestanding" (made without a bread pan) loaf baked at high temperature (up to 500 °F, frequently using steam) that is both crusty and chewy. The higher baking temperatures are possible due to the use of lean doughs. If the dough contains significant amounts of natural sugar (produced during the longer fermentation) or sugars or oil are added to the dough, lower temperatures are used.

Hearth breads are frequently made in a traditional way: a piece of fermented dough is baked on the heated floor of a hearth oven. This type of bread is produced in a wide variety of local shapes and styles and is popular at small bakeries. The well-known shapes include baguette, batard (a shorter version of baguette with three slashes instead of seven), ficelle, Parisian (a large loaf), boule, Vienna bread, and a crusty hard roll.

The typical traits of the hearth breads include crisp crust with cracks and nut-like flavor, and creamy crumb. They can be produced by straight dough, sourdough, and sponge-dough processes. The hearth breads can be also made from rye flour (actually, a mix of rye and wheat flour). These breads are popular in Northern and Eastern Europe.