The Evolution and History of French Bread In 1788 and 1789, speculation in the movement, storage and sale of grains combined with adverse weather conditions led to a severe bread shortage throughout France. Prices for this staple increased beyond affordability, especially for the poor and peasant classes. While the rich had plenty of fine bread made from pure white flour, the poor either starved or subsisted on an inferior product made from poorly milled bran grains.

Mass starvation eventually provoked revolution. The storming of the Bastille was more a call for bread than it was an uprising to free enemies of the crown. The people cried out for bread and searched the bakeries to no avail. There was no bread.

Once calm was restored, the constituent assembly authorized bakers to make only one kind of bread – "bread of equality " (pain d' egalite) – made from flour that was ¾ wheat and ¼ rye with the bran included. White flours were banned and rationing was introduced. The victory of the republic and the abolition of feudal priviledges did permit the return of white breads to the table. It eventually became the everyday bread.