Difference between French and Italian bread?

What is the difference between French bread and Italian bread?
Barry H answered
There are many differences and many similarities.

Traditional "French" bread, the baguette, is made with a dough of about 60-62% hydration -- the liquid weighs 60-62% as much as the flour weighs. It is shaped into long loaves and baked at around 425-440F with water vapor or steam in the oven.

Traditional "Italian" bread is made with a dough that has a bit more liquid, possibly some of it milk, and is shaped into large rounds and baked at about the same temperature, usually without water or steam it the oven.

The breads you bought were likely made from the same ingredients, although Italian bread may have a bit of fat, milk or sugar in it.

By law, French baguettes must be made from water, flour, yeast and salt, with a very small amount of dough improver allowed.

However, as you will see from the links below, there are endless variations in both countries, but both countries bakers make the full range of breads, from small rolls to large enriched holiday breads and just about everything in between.

There are so many regional variations within each country, from east to west and north to south that it's hard to define the differences between "French" bread and "Italian" bread. However, there are a few differences that seem to carry through.

French bakers make more rye breads than Italian bakers, since France borders Germany and the climate is a bit colder than Italy's climate.

Italian bakers use semolina flour (not meal) in quite a few breads.

My impression, and it's just that, is that Italian bakers tend to work with wetter doughs than French bakers and to bake at higher temperatures. Neither of these are scientific fact.

Below are a few links to web sites and the names of some interesting bread books to look at if you are interested in baking these breads.
http://www.artisanbreadbaking.com/
http://www.theartisan.net/
Carol Field, "The Italian Baker"
Bernard Clayton, Jr., "The Breads of France"
Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter, "TheVCook's Guide to Bread"
Joe Ortiz, "The Village Baker"
Franco Galli, "The Il Fornaio Baking Book"
Peter Reinhart, "The Bread Baker's Apprentice"
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