Today's Bread (2019-2022)

[TastyReuben]

Well, the baguettes didn't work so well. I used a recipe from Chef John at Food Wishes, and his stuff is usually spot on, plus the reviews were overwhelmingly positive, so I don't know where things went amiss.

It's a no-knead overnight recipe, and the overnight rise was fine, but once I shaped and set out for the second rise...nothing. At first, I figured it was because my kitchen is a little cool, so after an hour, I moved them to a small room with a space heater, and after another hour, still nothing.

I went ahead and baked them off after that, no oven spring, and instead of coming out crusty and deep golden, they're rather pale and not crusty at all.

Back to the drawing board.

 

[Morning Glory]

I used a recipe from Chef John at Food Wishes,

Do you have a link to the recipe?

 

[TastyReuben]

Do you have a link to the recipe?

Sure:

How to Make French Baguettes

 

[Morning Glory]

Sure:

How to Make French Baguettes

Thanks - I will have an atttempt tomorrow. Result on Wednesday. The video is useful.

How to Make French Baguettes Video

 

[TastyReuben]

Thanks - I will have an atttempt tomorrow. Result on Wednesday. The video is useful.

How to Make French Baguettes Video

This is how the better of the two turned out:

Outside Baguette

• TastyReuben
• 18 May 2020

Inside Baguette

• TastyReuben
• 18 May 2020

The only reason that's as brown as it is is because, after about an hour of stewing over it, I tossed it back in the oven.

The holes on the inside are just barely formed. This is more like a regular white loaf. The flavor, because of the overnight rise, is really good.

There's nothing special about the dough ingredients, so the next time I try this, I'm going to use my preferred no-knead recipe (which uses beer and vinegar to simulate sourdough), and just shape it into baguettes and see how that goes.

 

[Morning Glory]

This is how the better of the two turned out:

Outside Baguette

• TastyReuben
• 18 May 2020

Inside Baguette

• TastyReuben
• 18 May 2020

The only reason that's as brown as it is is because, after about an hour of stewing over it, I tossed it back in the oven.

The holes on the inside are just barely formed. This is more like a regular white loaf. The flavor, because of the overnight rise, is really good.

There's nothing special about the dough ingredients, so the next time I try this, I'm going to use my preferred no-knead recipe (which uses beer and vinegar to simulate sourdough), and just shape it into baguettes and see how that goes.

TBH this looks OK to me. It must have risen quite a lot or you wouldn't get the holes. I don't think its going to be possible to achieve a really holey (is that a word) bread using the method cited. I think I may defer on trying it after all. Maybe I should try your vinegar/ beer method instead...

 

[MrsDangermouse]

This is how the better of the two turned out:

Outside Baguette

• TastyReuben
• 18 May 2020

Inside Baguette

• TastyReuben
• 18 May 2020

The only reason that's as brown as it is is because, after about an hour of stewing over it, I tossed it back in the oven.

The holes on the inside are just barely formed. This is more like a regular white loaf. The flavor, because of the overnight rise, is really good.

There's nothing special about the dough ingredients, so the next time I try this, I'm going to use my preferred no-knead recipe (which uses beer and vinegar to simulate sourdough), and just shape it into baguettes and see how that goes.

That looks like a perfectly normal baguette to me
I suspect though, based on your comments about the holes and you mentioning simulating sourdough, that you were actually aiming for a baguette tradition

Here's a baguette ordinaire on the left, and a baguette tradition on the on the right:

 

[Windigo]

I just want to add the note that most conventional ovens don't get hot enough for a baguette, the best baguettes are always from commericial bakery ovens. At least, that's what Paul Hollywood says about it.

 

[Morning Glory]

I just want to add the note that most conventional ovens don't get hot enough for a baguette, the best baguettes are always from commericial bakery ovens. At least, that's what Paul Hollywood says about it.

Good point. I also understand that the flour used in France is different somehow.

 

[Morning Glory]

That looks like a perfectly normal baguette to me
I suspect though, based on your comments about the holes and you mentioning simulating sourdough, that you were actually aiming for a baguette tradition

Here's a baguette ordinaire on the left, and a baguette tradition on the on the right:
View attachment 40924

I think that is exactly the issue and why I thought it looked OK to me. Maybe in America it is the 'baguette tradition' which is regarded as a 'regular' baguette.

 

[TastyReuben]

Thanks for all the baguette notes, folks! I appreciate it!

TBH this looks OK to me. It must have risen quite a lot or you wouldn't get the holes. I don't think its going to be possible to achieve a really holey (is that a word) bread using the method cited. I think I may defer on trying it after all. Maybe I should try your vinegar/ beer method instead...

Sometimes, I wonder if I'm too hard on myself. I know I get incredibly frustrated with cakes, thinking they're too dense, or too dry, and I'll try someone else's, and it'll be like mine, but everyone is raving about it.

Sometime after today (anniversary, which means I'm cooking all day as soon as I'm done here) I'll post that recipe up. It's ATK's Almost No-Knead Bread.

That looks like a perfectly normal baguette to me
I suspect though, based on your comments about the holes and you mentioning simulating sourdough, that you were actually aiming for a baguette tradition

Here's a baguette ordinaire on the left, and a baguette tradition on the on the right:
View attachment 40924

Thanks. Yes, the one on the right is what I'm expecting. I didn't know there was more than one kind of baguette. Here, they're just sold as baguettes. Here's one I bought yesterday:

Pan Bagnat Picnic Sandwich

• TastyReuben
• 18 May 2020

You can see it's a lot more open than mine.

I just want to add the note that most conventional ovens don't get hot enough for a baguette, the best baguettes are always from commericial bakery ovens. At least, that's what Paul Hollywood says about it.

I think that is exactly the issue and why I thought it looked OK to me. Maybe in America it is the 'baguette tradition' which is regarded as a 'regular' baguette.

Agreed. It's the same thing with pizza. My oven goes to 525F and I have the offset set to it's max, so I'm potentially getting up to 555F, but that's still weak compared to a commercial oven.

 

[MrsDangermouse]

Good point. I also understand that the flour used in France is different somehow.

Yes, I think they mostly use type 55 like this for bread in France:


I brought it back from holiday (yes, I know my choice of holiday souvenir seems somewhat odd to a lot of people ) but I haven't baked with it for a while, I'll probably have a go sometime over the next couple of weeks though.

As I understand it in some countries they give the flours numbers to indicate the types instead of names - I don't fully understand all the differences but this summary looks like a pretty good place to start.

Interestingly, at 10.5% my french type 55 flour has much lower protein (and therefore gluten) than my strong white bread flour (13%), its even lower than the plain flour I have in the cupboard (11%). So probably that means we should use plain flour when trying to make french breads rather than strong white bread flour!

 

[Morning Glory]

So probably that means we should use plain flour when trying to make french breads rather than strong white bread flour!

Fascinating conclusion and maybe worth a try. In the USA, it seems that a lot of recipes use 'all purpose flour' for bread making rather than strong bread flour. I think its equivalent to our plain flour in terms of gluten but it would be interesting to know the protein content. TastyReuben, can you look at your packets, maybe?

 

[TastyReuben]

Fascinating conclusion and maybe worth a try. In the USA, it seems that a lot of recipes use 'all purpose flour' for bread making rather than strong bread flour. I think its equivalent to our plain flour in terms of gluten but it would be interesting to know the protein content. TastyReuben, can you look at your packets, maybe?

We use bread flour here quite extensively. The bread flour I usually use is 12.7% and the AP flour is 11.7%.

 

[Morning Glory]

We use bread flour here quite extensively. The bread flour I usually use is 12.7% and the AP flour is 11.7%.

Sorry - I know people do use bread flour in the USA but my possibly mistaken understanding was that a lot of people don't and maybe its not so easily available in supermarkets? I do see a lot of US recipes that use AP.