A Brief History of Bread in New Orleans

The most notable dishes in Louisiana range from steamy hot gumbo, spicy red beans and rice, and of course, boiled crawfish and potatoes seasoned to perfection. Food has brought people in the South together for as long as anyone can remember. But, there is one other delicacy that sometimes gets overlooked from The Crescent City— bread. 

As a Louisiana native, I’ve dabbled in bread making for almost two years now. Starting with hand kneading my dough with floury hands, pulled back hair, and into long hours of the night— To now spending every Sunday prepping buttery sandwich bread hollow to the tap, gooey cinnamon raisin bagels, and flour tortillas that hold the perfect steak tacos. It’s been years since I’ve gone to the store to buy bread products. I didn’t know until recently how I was tapping into the roots of the very place I live.

Bread in the South

People in Louisiana have been supplying their homes, families, and communities with memorable home cooking for centuries, and bread is no exception. Especially throughout New Orleans where French immigrants made roots, bringing with them more than their heritage. With each step you take down Bourbon Street, your nostrils fill with the buttery, flaky, crisp smell of baked southern delicacies– beignets, po-boys, king cakes, and french bread. All well known to the Southern region and perfected by the chefs and bakers that call the city home.

Bread is foundational, and not just in the South, though it is a pivotal piece of many Southern dishes we enjoy today– A piece of cornbread with our red beans or a flaky po-boy holding our favorite sandwich ingredients. David W Brown, New Orleans author and The New York Times contributor, said, “A country’s most fertile soils are called its “bread basket,” and the person who makes the money in a household is the “breadwinner.” The breaking of bread is the first act of solidarity between people.”

For a place that has spent hundreds of years establishing roots to many as the food hub of America, the intricate act of making bread is not widely discussed. There isn’t much research on it apart from a few people who have called Louisiana home for many years, like David W. Brown and Dana Logsdon. Apart from them, the organic nature of how bread is still an untapped subject.

Early Days of Bread-making in New Orleans

Bread-making and Southern bread traditions date back to the early 1700s as settlers came over from France bringing with them methods that would eventually set deep roots in the South. Bread traditions run deep throughout all places in the world– France specifically before bringing over to find a home in America. 

“Every civilization has independently discovered its own form of bread,” said Brown. “It is life, and the reason we have thrived since the dawn of humanity. It is also a hyper-localized product.”

Chretien’s and B.C. Francingues, two notable bakeries in the late 1800s and 1900s, while long gone, originally brought authentic ‘French’ bread to New Orleans. By the late 1800s, New Orleans had roughly 170 bakeries at once. Avid bakers and Louisiana natives have studied the city’s rich history, tracing bread baking back to its roots. One individual decided to make a tour out of it. 

Dana Logsdon, New Orleans baker and historian, detailed six stops throughout New Orleans as she documented and discovered the “crumbs” in the city’s bread making history. In her work Trails of Crumbs, Logsdon wrote, “The large number of bakeries that anchored neighborhoods throughout the city’s history is a testament to the importance of bread to the community and to the diversity of the bakers.” 

All six sites Logsdon highlighted sit nestled in the French Quarter, the center of most of New Orleans culture. 

“Food is familiar, comforting, and an experience shared across identities and cultures,” said Logsdon. “Food provides an accessible entry point into the past.”

While the French Quarter may not have packed the elaborate dishes back then that it does today, it was paving the way for things to come. As you stroll the streets over 200 years ago, if you stumbled into a bakery as you made your daily grocery run, you’d find a few things– One or two wood-burning brick ovens, peels made of wood to handle the scorching hot loaves in the fiery brick ovens, and wooden troughs (like the ones you see used now for animals), but they were used to mix the dough. 

Louisiana Houses a Distinct Climate

And, when people say traditions in the South run deep, they don’t just mean metaphorically. As bakers rolled into New Orleans, they made use of the resources available. Being located right next to the Mississippi River allowed bakers and millers access to the water needed to make their bread. Some also say that rain water came in handy too if collected. While Southern bakers today don’t need to collect rain water or hop over to the Mississippi River to make a loaf of bread, their process doesn’t look much different. 

When it comes to the bread baking process, the climate down South can make or break a good loaf. The sticky Louisiana air and more often than not the extremely high heats cause bakers to make necessary adjustments to craft a perfect loaf. Not making the proper adjustments, whether at home or in a bakery, could cause your loaf to come out sticky, gummy, or the worst– dense. High heat and humidity can cause dough to rise faster than usual, so ensuring you have the proper climate is a must. 

“Regional soils nourish different types of wheat in different ways, and different water goes into the making of bread,” wrote Brown. “This affects taste and texture when the dough rises and is baked.”

The distinct climate and water located in Louisiana breeds the perfect po-boy, Brown confirmed as a native of New Orleans.

“It is one reason New Orleans po-boys are so distinctive— our water somehow yields a bread both fluffier and crisper. Have you ever ordered a po-boy in New York? It would be a war crime.”

New Orleans Today

Restaurants throughout New Orleans today hold true to the delicious nature of the Crescent City’s culinary roots. Now, residents walk through the doors of beloved city bakeries like La Boulangerie to grab freshly made croissants, baguettes, and sourdough loaves. Some of the oldest bakeries in NOLA still have their doors open to the public, including Leidenheimer Baking Company and John Gendusa Bakery. 

Leidenheimer first opened in 1896. The bakery still bakes French bread five generations later, as the brick building continues to be family-owned and operated. Founder George Leideheimer came to New Orleans from Germany. While he first began sharing his German rooted breads with New Orleans natives, he eventually migrated to deliciously crusted French breads.

John Gendusa Bakery opened its doors a bit later– September 1922. Several at the bakery, including John Gendusa himself, were tasked with finding a way to feed streetcar workers. This is when the “Poor Boy sandwich” was introduced. After four generations, the bakery still uses the original recipe by Gendusa to provide po-boys to the city.

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