The Industrial Age: Challenge and Response

The 19th century brought mechanization, threatening artisanal traditions. Steam ovens and mechanical kneaders promised efficiency but at what cost? This period saw the birth of the baguette—not an ancient tradition but a modern innovation responding to changing urban lifestyles. Workers needed bread they could carry easily, eat quickly during short breaks. The baguette's elongated form wasn't just aesthetic; it was practical, democratic design.

But industrialization also sparked resistance. Louise Dumont, one of the few women master bakers officially recognized in the 1880s, championed traditional fermentation methods when others rushed to embrace commercial yeast. Her writings on natural levain preservation influenced the sourdough revival a century later. "Progress," she wrote, "should enhance tradition, not erase it."