First Attempt at French Baguettes

CPARKTX

Absolutely no idea what I'm doing, but used overnight dough recipe from FWSY. Made one loaf and three baguettes. Look decent, we'll see how they turn out when they cool. 

Grilltastic

Looks amazing. Would love some details please

TheToast

They all look great. 

blukat

Yes, details.  

CtTOPGUN

What is FWSY? Those look great! I saw a recipe on the Chef John(Food Wishes) Youtube site and it looks simple enough. Now that I have a ceramic "oven" at my disposal it may be time to learn to bake.

   Jim

CPARKTX

Well, under cooked them a bit. Too soft and not crunchy. Either that too high hydration. I used my thermapen to check IT and it was 190, but needed to leave in longer. I'll know next time. 

@CtTOPGUN FWSY = "Flour Water Salt Yeast" by Ken Forkish, great book. 

@Grilltastic and @blukat - I used an overnight dough recipe from the above book, and did my best to follow the techniques I pieced together from YouTube videos. I cooked in the oven at 475, and threw ice cubes in a preheated pan on a lower level to generate steam for the crust. I think it would have worked out if I'd just cooked about 5-10 minutes longer. 

CtTOPGUN

Seems baking bread is as scientific as most baking but with the additional "art" of adjusting on the fly for any change in conditions. Cooking is so much more forgiving and I usually cook by sight, taste, temp and feel. I am not happy when I have to measure everything and follow a recipe exactly. But if I am to bake anything, much less breads, I will have to get used to it.

    Jim

SciAggie

@CPARKTX  Very nice. It's really fun watching how much folks here have upped their bread game. I've not made baguettes yet. I wondered if they were underbaked based on their color compared to your boule of the same dough. Bread baking is a fun yet sometimes maddening adventure - but dang it's cool when you manage an awesome loaf. Thanks for posting. 

pescadorzih

@CPARKTX, the bread looks great!
The recipe the wife uses calls for a 400 degree temp.
We also spritz the loaves when placing in the oven or egg. The ice cubes along with a possible too high hydration may have caused them to be underdone in the center.

caliking

Very nice!


Did you proof using a cloth/couche? And how did you transfer them to the oven? Haven't tried baguettes yet either, but they are on the list.

I've decided that bread will the hobby for 2017. Love FWSY. Probably the favorite bread book of the ones I have. Just got the Hamelman book, and although it's great to read, the recipes are driving me nuts.  The home versions of the recipes are not in metric units, so scaling them down is becoming tedious. 

Project for this week is to make a DIY bread cloche out of a flower pot.

theyolksonyou

If I baked bread like that, I'd weigh 400#

smbishop

Awesome post, thanks for sharing!

bgebrent

Beautiful looking baguettes!

SciAggie

@caliking @CPARKTX I I was gifted Tartine Bread by Chad Robertson for Christmas. It has been very helpful. I already have FWSY, Josey Baker, Artisan in 5 minutes a day... I'm not sure if each book seems better because our understanding has improved over time - but the Tartine book is an excellent addition if you want to take a look. 

CPARKTX

Thanks for the tip @SciAggie I'll add that to my wish list.  

CPARKTX

@caliking I did use a couche (Santa brought one). I don't have one of those "bread flipper" boards, so I flipped it out of the couche onto my pizza peel then flipped it into my bread tin. Worked surprisingly well, even though the bread hung over the edges of the pep. 

CtTOPGUN

This vid piqued my interest for making my own baquette. Looks simple enough, but all of Chef John's vids make things look easy.

   Jim

SciAggie

@CPARKTX Can you post a picture of what you baked the baguettes in? I know they will be too long for my cloche. 

CPARKTX

@SciAggie this is what I baked them in. Available on Amazon.  I put this on a cookie sheet for stability  

caliking

Can you proof the dough in that wavy pan and then slide  all of them  into the oven?

SciAggie

@CPARKTX Thanks. I had forgotten about those. 

caliking

@SciAggie theTartine book looks like it will be very useful when I delve into sourdough baking.

I have a starter now (going on 3 weeks) which may be ready to start baking with, but I need to have a plan of some sort about what to do with it!

SciAggie

@caliking I've made two sourdough loaves in a row using the Tartine book that I'm really proud of. The leavan has been surprisingly easy to manage. I started retarding the proofing in the refridgerator and that has made deciding when to bake much easier. I'll be happy to share my workflow if you're interested. 

northGAcock

Pass me the butter please.

jrj3rd

Jim Lahey's "My Bread: the revolutionary no work, no knead method" is another good book.  His no-knead techniques work very well.

CtTOPGUN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2rLPq8oYCc

 This vid is a no knead version. It is the one that piqued my interest. Looks quite easy. Not sure why it did not get into my last comment. But I suck at computer stuff.

   Jim

pgprescott

Impressive.