A late baker

Late again?I hope this doesn’t become habit forming…

Daring Baguettes

This month the Daring Bakers chose a recipe by Boston’s own Julia Child: Baguettes. This recipe was probably 3 pages long and very detailed. I’m not listing it here, but I’m sure you can find it on another Daring Baker’s site.

While mine did not come out as perfect as I wanted, the taste and texture were pretty good for skipping a two steps in the recipe.

The first step I omitted with proofing the bread on a cloth. I searched high and low but could not find anything appropriate in my house to this sort of application. I ended up proofing them on a silpat, on the counter, with a small tea towel draped over them.

The second step omitted, which is pretty important, was I didn’t cook with steam. I tried spritzing the loaves with a sprayer but omitted any of the other (very important) steps the recipe suggested for producing steam in a home oven.

The results were decently shaped baguettes with a crust that wasn’t as crunchy as I hoped. This didn’t stop me from eating an entire baguette with jam though, they were more than tasty. Would I try this recipe again? Maybe. If I use the recipe again, there are a few things I would change:

  • I’d skip the whole cloth proofing and just use a sheet pan with a towel over the top
  • I wouldn’t try to flip the proofed loaves over and THEN cook them, too much risk
  • Create steam in the oven, it is important for the crust formation
  • Less flour, more water. I even thought the recipe had a high hydration factor, but I was wrong.
  • Take more pictures and show them off!

These baguettes featured in a salad I made later in the week, as well. They were thinly sliced and toasted and served with a grilled goat cheese; I then paired that with a golden beet salad. I jokingly called it, “The Yellow Beet Road.”

Goat and Beet

While I really love these French-style baguettes, I’ve started to acquire a taste for the Vietnamese-style baguettes. The Asian-inspired breads had a bit lighter texture and had a better crust formation even without steam. The recipe was a little bit less involved, too!

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2 Responses to “A late baker”

  • Dale says:

    That does look like a delicious little lunch. Pretty interesting blog you got going on here 😛

  • Courtney says:

    Looks like the perfect lite lunch. I remeber your post on the Vietnamese baguettes. Whats the diffrence in technique and ingrediants? Love the sandwhiches.

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