Old British cookbooks sometimes call for ‘French bread’ as an ingredient or serving suggestion, and are referring to a generic crusty white baguette or similar. However, the term ‘French bread’ can be misleading, as it could suggest that the bread is intrinsically French when the truth might be that it bears only a slight resemblance to a similar loaf made in .
Before you buy, try to determine why the bread is described as French: look at where the flour comes from, see if the ingredients and description are realistic and make a judgement based on that.
