To grandma's house she goes
My wife is heading north to visit with her parents. And they really like the bread I make for them. Baguettes more so than batards, a little more plain than fancy. In preparation I made a batch of SJSD and a batch of Hamelman Pain au Levain w/WW to freeze and take with her.
Tag-teaming the making of these - both mixed last night, both baked this evening was a bit of a juggling act - especially because I have only one couche which needed to be scraped down and dried out before I divided and shaped the second batch. I shaped both batches a bit too long and one baguette from each batch wound up with a bit of a Jimmy Durante nose from hanging over the edge of the baking deck. But the simple scheduling of these was fun.
No she won't be taking all ten of these, but she can take as many as she wants.
10x350g
Comments
I sure wish I could hand her one of yours! But reality is that I guess I am back to baking some baguettes in the near future.
rather than anticipation. How terribly terribly sad :-(
I first started this home baking stint in Aug. 2013. Bought the FWSY book, a Dutch Oven - because the book said so, and probably little else. I think that I've used the D.O. three maybe four times, that first boule, once with my sister-in-law and once with my cousin who each wanted to bake a loaf with me.
Almost from the get-go I decided that I would slog through the (un)enviable task of learning to bake baguettes. And so the journey began. Do I still goof up - surely I am guilty, your Honor. Rarely ever with ingredients and scaling as I'm just too anal about that. More on the shaping and scoring side of the house, although those are mostly under control.
IOW - Rome wasn't built in a day, and as I'm not a natural, neither was my ability to do baguettes. So, get thee into the kitchen, get the baguettes rolling and baking! To me it is way more satisfying than the D.O. even if what folks post on TFL show their results to often be fabulous.
And one other thing, if you've been following my journey. With very few exceptions one does not need to find a "baguette recipe" to do baguettes. What I've found to be fun is to take formulae for boules and batards that others have never posted before as baguettes and make baguettes with them. It keeps the side show interesting - and fun!
I think it is the awkwardness of the size that bothers me more than anything along with the steaming contraptions. I don't have a couche so I use baguette molds and they don't fit nicely into a plastic bag. They take up more fridge space than boules and I can't tell you how many times I have burned my hands or face on the steam coming from the oven. I think it is a design flaw of this particular oven because this happens even with regular use, never mind when I add steam on purpose.
Okay, done whining here. I will get into baguettes next week. This week is just too crazy.