Miracle of New Orleans' French Bread

New Orleans French Bread …served at fine dining establishments and hole-in-the-wall Poboy spots… is crispy on the outside and soft as air on the inside.

Welcome to our blog post about the history of New Orleans' Okra File Gumbo. New Orleans is a melting pot of cultures, just like its cuisine... Being a native of New Orleans, when I became Vegan I really missed all of my old favorites like Gumbo, PoBoys, Stuffed Artichokes, Oyster Dressing, and so many other fabulous dishes. In researching how to re-create them into Vegan options, I started learning about the history of our New Orleans' Creole + Cajun Cuisines (Yes they are different). Creole derives from when we were under Spanish rule and Cajun derives from when we were under French rule. But actually there is a third + fourth .... African and Choctow cultures as well.... In our blog we will share our unique "melting pot" Heritage and re-create via GRAB n GO Vegan!.

Vegan NOLA healthy option...

New Orleans-style French bread has very little or no fat or sugar and no preservatives. French bread is fresh for a finite amount of time.

A German immigrant achieves fame and fortune making French bread. The immigrant was George Leidenheimer, who came to New Orleans from Deidesheim and set up a bakery bearing his name on Dryades Street in 1896. According to the company's website, originally Leidenheimer baked the heavy, dense brown breads of his native Germany but it was by producing New Orleans French bread, with its crisp crust, that Leidenheimer found fame. Leidenheimer bread is still unique because over a century later it continues to be made using the same time-honored process. In a city like New Orleans, where eating is almost a religion, producing the perfect French bread is a sacred mission to the employees of Leidenheimer Baking Company.

New Orleans yeast: A brief history of Leidenheimer's bread

The bakery moved in 1904 to the brick building it still occupies at Simon Bolivar Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Its trucks ply the city's streets daily, full of hot loaves of French bread to deliver to an appreciative clientele. It also delivers its bread as far west as Colorado, as far north as Maryland and as far south as Florida.

• The Leidenheimer Baking Co. motto, found on each wrapper, is "Good to the Last Crumb." Many of the trucks feature the Bunny Matthews characters Vic 'n' Nat'ly.

Regardless of the sandwich's origin, New Orleanians are passionate about their Poboys, and they crowd into sandwich shops to buy them -- dressed, of course -- while grabbing up fistfuls of paper napkins. A sandwich doesn't have to be built on a Leidenheimer's loaf to be called a Poboy, but if it is, it can be considered that much more authentic. Add a frosty bottle of Barq's on the side, and you've just found yourself a bit of New Orleans nirvana.

First the Ingredients

• All Purpose Flour

• Yeast

• Water

For over 105 years, Leidenheimer Baking Co. has been producing fresh French bread for the New Orleans and Gulf South area. Their special production process... which they call thier "time-honored process" is not to be found. It is referred to many time, but the actually system is not available to my knowledge. It is like the "coke" secret of bread.

Origins

In fact, the origins of the New Orleans French bread are probably more German and Austrian than French. Germans flocked to New Orleans in the mid-1800s, and Germanic influence continues to add cultural interest to the New Orleans melting pot.