Baguette
I saw a picture in Aime Pouly's Le Pain of a twisted baguette, which reminds me of the Japanese sourdough "wave" loaf that I made. I thought James MacGuire's formula would be great for me to try Pouly's baguette fashion. I incorporated the following additions:
- French starter, which I got from Teresa's Northwest Sourdough website.
- Chinese (to be exact, Cantonese) style of sausage for one of the three baguettes (below). Canton is the south-eastern province of China where Hong Kong used to be a part of until the latter's cession to Britain for 99 years to 1997. The dialect spoken in Canton Province is Cantonese, which is also the dialect in Hong Kong, naturally, as well as many overseas Chinese whose ancestors were from Canton.
- I reduced the instant dry yeast by half to 1/3 teaspoon (ie, 1 gram).
Here are the pictures of my three baguettes.
I have never gotten such a creamy crumb before. The flour I used is Laucke's Wallaby Unbleached Bakers Flour (protein 11.9%). They are a South Australia based company. During our kids' school holiday last year, we went very close to the heart of the base of German and Italian immigrants in Australia where Laucke is located. We ate at the famous Stefano de Pieri's restaurant in South Australia.
By now you probably know that I mostly eat my baguette with my eyes. This is my supper.
Shiao-Ping
Comments
Shiao-Ping, those are lovely! You're an artist!
how many stray kittens do you currently have, might I ask? Do Dragonbabe look after them for you?
Thank you.
shiao-ping
LOL We have three adult cats which we adopted as stray kittens, and one stray kitten which we haven't been able to place out, but I don't think we'll be able to part with the adorable little feller. We recently gave two kittens (his siblings) to someone else to temporarily foster, and they're available for adoption if you have any friends in Taibei wanting a kitten. They're beautiful black kittens.
In the past four years, have rescued twenty seven other kittens and cats, and one dog. We both take turns looking after them, since we both work multiple PT jobs. We also support an animal rescue organization here in Taibei called Animals Taiwan. In fact, right after we first met, we both joined Animals Taiwan and regularly baked doggie biscuits and people biscuits in a local cafe's kitchen to raise money to support the group. So I married a fellow baker, in a way!
BTW, those are great shots! What camera and lens are you using? We were thinking of upgrading next year.
The camera I use is the simplest Olympus 1030 SW, 5.0-18.2mm. I bought it at Guan-hua market at Ba-der Road.
Wow, 30 kittens/cats and one dog! I admire you.
Shiao-Ping
p.s. not very good at guessing English abbreviations.
Shiao-Ping,
LOL = laughing out loud
BTW = by the way
PT = part-time (in this context; in other contexts it might refer to physical training)
Others you've probably seen here include
IMHO = in my humble opinion
FWIW = for what it's worth
YMMV = your mileage may vary (originally from automobile manufacturers touting their vehicles' fuel efficiency, measured as miles per gallon (MPG) in the States.)
ROTFL = rolling on the floor laughing
BBA = Bread Baker's Apprentice (title of a book by Peter Reinhart)
WGB = Whole Grain Breads (another Reinhart book)
KA = King Arthur (a flour manufacturer and its products) or KitchenAid (a brand of kitchen tools, mixers and the like)
RLB = Rose Levy Berenbaum, a cookbook author
WW = whole wheat (as in flour)
WWW = white whole wheat
AP = all purpose flour
VWG = vital wheat gluten
HG or HGF = high-gluten flour
SD = sourdough
LAB = lactobacillus
There are probably others that aren't occurring to me just now but I hope this helps clarify some of the terms.
Paul
Paul,
I love the ROTFL the best.
By the way, you missed TADA!
Thanks.
Shiao-Ping
Very nice presentation Shiao-Ping. I am curious how the surface appears as if twisted? The flour lines are at an angle across the crust but I can't see any indication of twisting as in the wave breads. Quite unique.
Eric
No cuts. I twisted the dough before proofing (ie, twisting the dough for its shaping)
Shiao-Ping
what can I say, you take your bread way beyond our expectations everytime. Always something new.
Betty
That is a very creative way to shape baguettes Shiao-Ping. The crumb looks fantastic. Did you use Lop Cheung to stuff your baguette?
Don
I guess "Lop Cheung" in Cantonese would be "La Chang" in Mandarin. So, the answer is yes.
Shiao-Ping
Sorry for confusing you, Shiao-Ping. PMcCool gave a lot of good ones there. Here's another common one: AFAIK (as far as I know). This and the above get used a lot in internet chat rooms, but you probaby shouldn't write them in more formal communications.
Twisted baguettes, huh? Interesting! This forum sure does attract a lot of creative people.