French Baguettes: BBA Challenge

The 14th bread in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is French Baguettes. This French bread utilizes a Pâte Fermentée or pre-ferment to bring out the flavor and improve the structure of the bread.

You can use the pre-ferment on the same day you make it, but according to Peter Reinhart, giving it an overnight treatment brings out more flavor. I made the Pâte Fermentée Saturday morning and let it rest in the refrigerator until Sunday afternoon when I was ready to bake.

"The baguette was said to have been invented during Napoleon's Russian campaign when he ordered a new shape of bread that could be carried down his troops' trouser legs. In fact, it was introduced in the 1920s after a new law banned bakers from working before 4am. They did not have enough time to bake a fresh boule for breakfast, so they created the baguette."

---"Marching on its stomach," Sam Coates, The Times (London), August 19, 2004, Home news; 6. Source: http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodbreads.html#baguette

You might also enjoy these other French Bread Recipes


French Baguettes

Makes: 3 small baguettes
From The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart

 

Ingredients:

Pâte Fermentée

• 1 1/8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/8 cups unbleached bread flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 3/4 cup to 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, at room temperature

Final Dough:

• 3 cups Pâte Fermentée
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached bread flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 3/4 cup to 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, lukewarm
• Semolina or cornmeal for dusting

Directions:

Making the Pâte Fermentée

Stir together the all-purpose and bread flours, salt, and yeast in a large bowl or you can use your stand mixer if you prefer. I decided to do this bread by hand to get the Artisan experience.  Add 3/4 cup of the water

Stir until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball. Adjust the flour or water as necessary to ensure the dough is neither too sticky nor too stiff.

 

Transfer the dough to a work surface sprinkled with flour. Knead the dough until it is soft and pliable; it should be tacky but not sticky. This will take about 4 to 6 minutes by hand or 4 minutes using the stand mixer.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and roll it around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it ferment at room temperature for an hour or until it swells to 1 1/2 times its original size.

 

Remove the dough from the bowl, knead it lightly to degas it, then return it to the bowl and recover with plastic wrap.

Place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight. It will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days, or you can freeze it in an airtight plastic bag for up to 3 months. I kept mine in the refrigerator for a couple of days until it was time to bake.

Making the Dough

Remove the Pâte Fermentée from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough.

Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for an hour to take off the chill.

 

Stir together the flours, salt, yeast, and Pâte Fermentée pieces.  Add the water and stir until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball. I used the Danish dough whisk and it worked really well.

Adjust the flour or water if necessary so that the dough is neither too sticky nor too stiff.  Transfer the dough to a counter sprinkled with flour.  Knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky, and all the pre-ferment is evenly incorporated. I love this part. The dough feels so good!

Fermenting the Dough

Transfer the dough to a lightly oil large bowl and roll it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to begin the fermentation.  Let the dough ferment at room temperature for 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

 

If it doubles in size before 2 hours, knead it lightly to degas. Then let it rise again, covered, until it doubles from the original size.

 

 

Shaping the Loaves

Gently remove the dough from the bowl and transfer it to a lightly floured counter. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces with a pastry scraper taking care to degas the dough as little as possible.

 

Form the pieces into baguettes

First, we'll form the loaves into a batard shape. From there, we'll form the baguettes. According to Peter Reinhart, that the batard shape is a good intermediary shape for making other forms. Once you make the batard, you are part of the way there and will need less effort to finish the extension after a short resting period.

Gently pat the dough into a rough triangle.

 

Being careful not to degas the dough, fold the bottom third of dough, letter style, up to the center and press to seal, creating surface tension on the outer edge.

 

Fold the remaining dough over the top and use the edge of your hand to seal the seam closed and to increase the surface tension all over.

 

Set the batards aside to rest to relax the gluten.

 

After the batards have rested, lift the dough and gently pull it out from the ends.

 

Crease the dough down the middle and fold it like a letter.

 

Seal the crease against the counter to create surface tension.

 

Working from the center of the loaf and moving to the outside edges, gently but firmly rock and roll out the dough to extend it to the desired length.

 

Set aside the loaves for proofing.

 

Proofing the Loaves

Prepare the loaves for proofing.  I decided to use the parchment method rather than making a couche.

 

Proof at room temperature for 45 to 75 minutes, or until the loaves have grown to about 1 1/2 times their original size. The loaves should be slightly springy if you poke them with a finger.

 

 

Prepare the oven for hearth baking

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

Score the baguettes. I painted the loaves with water first so that the lame wouldn't get stuck in the dough.

 

I scored them a little differently than what the book describes. It ended up deflating the loaves a little bit.

 

 

Baking the Loaves

Dust a baker's peel or the back of a sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal and very gently transfer the baguettes to the peel or pan. I used a baking pan without sides and sprinkled it with cornmeal. I have semolina but it's in the freezer in the garage so the cornmeal was easier to get.

Transfer the baguettes to the baking stone. Pour one cup of hot water into the steam pan and close the oven door. After 30 seconds, spray the oven walls with water and close the door. Repeat 2 more times at 30 second intervals. Then lower the oven setting to 450 degrees F. and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the loaves for even baking and continue baking another 10 to 20 minutes, or until the loaves are a rich golden brown.

 

If the loaves are getting too dark but are not hot enough internally, lower the oven setting to 350 degrees F. (or turn it off) and continue baking for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

I turned my oven down because the bottom of the loaves were burning but they never really did brown on top. It's probably due to the flour. Peter Reinhart recommends using diastatic malt powder to help it brown.

Cooling and Serving the Bread

Remove the loaves from the oven and cool on a rack for at least 40 minutes before slicing or serving.

The texture and flavor of these baguettes were good even though they didn't brown as much as I would've liked.

Storing the Bread

Store the loaves in a paper bag to keep them crisp. They should last a few days.

Happy Baking!
Cathy

Artisan Free-Form Loaf (Boule)

I've heard a lot of good things about the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes’ technique from other bread bakers on Twitter and I couldn't wait to try it for myself.  I decided to start with the master artisan free-form loaf.

 

So far this method lives up to its name. Basically, you make the master dough, let it rise for a couple of hours, then store it in the refrigerator for up to 14 days. When you want to bake bread, just take out the amount of dough needed for a particular recipe, shape it, let it rise and bake it. How easy is that? There are a couple of other steps but you get the gist. 

 

Edited 8/4/2013: I made this loaf again and adapted the ingredients a little. Basically, I cut the formula in third, used less water and yeast and a little more flour.  I also changed the order of the ingredients. 

I prefer to mix the dry ingredients first, then add in the wet ingredients.  However, if you are using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, add it to the lukewarm water and then mix it with the flour and salt.

The original version makes four 1-pound loaves.  If you want to make that version, refer to the list of ingredients here.

To make one 1 1/2-pound round freeform loaf, use the following formula.  The directions are basically the same for both versions, but you use all of the dough in my version instead of cutting off part of it and putting the rest back in the refrigerator.

 

 

Artisan Free-Form Loaf

 

Adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois

 

Makes: One 1 1/2-pound Round Boule

 

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups (315 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1/2 tablespoon Kosher salt
• 1 – 1 1/4 cups (281.25 grams) lukewarm water
• Cornmeal for dusting pizza peel or parchment paper

 

Directions:

First Step: Mixing and Storing the Dough

Measure the flour (with dry-ingredient measuring cups), using the scoop and sweep method. Basically, you just scoop up the flour, then sweep off the top with a knife.

 

Mix together the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl.  Add the lukewarm water (about 100 degrees F.)  Use a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk to thoroughly mix the ingredients.

I mixed the dough with a wooden spoon, and it worked just fine. However, if the dough becomes to stiff to handle with the spoon, you can reach into your mixing bowl with wet hands and finish mixing the dough, but there’s no need to knead it. Do this until everything is moist and you have a dough that is wet and loose. I mixed everything right in the container which makes it really easy to clean up.

Cover the container with a lid that is not airtight. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for approximately 2 hours or until it begins to collapse. It may take longer depending on the temperature of the room and the temperature of the water used. You can use a portion of the dough at any time after the rising period. However, it is recommended that you refrigerate the dough overnight or at least 3 hours before shaping a loaf because fully refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and easier to work with that dough at room temperature.

I let the dough rest on the counter for a couple of hours, then placed it in the refrigerator until the next day when I was ready to bake. Then, I took it out and let it warm up to room temperature.

Baking Day: 1st Try

Shaping the Dough

First, you prepare a pizza peel (or the back of a baking sheet) by sprinkling it with cornmeal to prevent your loaf from sticking to it when you slide it into the oven.

At this point, I thought to myself, "I should use parchment paper to make sure the dough doesn't stick." However, I decided to do it the way the recipe suggested so I didn't use parchment paper. That was my first mistake. You'll see why in a minute.

Then, you sprinkle the refrigerated dough with flour and pull up and cut off a grapefruit-sized piece.  Hold the dough in your hands and sprinkle with more flour so it doesn't stick to your hands. Stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating it as you go. When it's correctly shaped, the ball will be smooth and cohesive. This shouldn't take very long.

Place the ball on the pizza peel and allow the loaf to rise for about 40 minutes. No covering is necessary.

Baking the Boule

Twenty minutes before you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack. Place an empty pan for holding water on the shelf underneath the baking stone.

This is the risen Boule

Dust the top of the loaf and make a 1/4-inch slash using a serrated knife. The book offers a few different patterns to choose from.  I chose the scallop pattern.

Now, this was the tricky part. The instructions say to give a quick forward jerking motion of the wrist, and slide the loaf off the pizza peel and onto the preheated baking stone. Well, all I can say is that I should've gone with my first thought of using parchment paper because this part didn't work too well. The dough just stuck to the pizza peel. Phooey!

Instead of trying to bake a blob and not be happy with it, I decided to just start over again. I put the dough back in the refrigerator to try again the next night. That's the good thing about this method. You can always put the dough back in the refrigerator and try it another day.

Baking Day: 2nd Try

Okay. Let's try this again...

Sprinkle a little flour over the top of the dough and pull off a grapefruit-size ball. Then tightly shape the ball by stretching the surface around to the bottom on all sides.

I placed it on the parchment this time to make sure it would come off in the shape I want it to and not stick to the peel.

Here is the shaped boule doubled in size. It held it's shape pretty well during the proofing.

Now we'll make the slashes. The slashes worked better this time.

It’s ready to bake!

Just slide the shaped and scored loaf (on the parchment paper) onto the preheated baking stone.  Then quickly pour hot water into your steam pan.  Close the oven door immediately to trap the steam.  Bake the bread for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is browned and firm to the touch.

Remove the loaf to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

 

Then slice and enjoy!  Look at those holes. I’m very pleased with this version. It tastes so good!  It’s great warm with butter. You can also make crostini with it.

Happy Baking!
Cathy

Monkey Bread

Today, in the bread-baking blog, we participated in a Group Bake with the Artisan Bread Bakers. We made Monkey Bread. The Monkey Bread recipe posted for the Group Bake on Facebook is similar to this Pull Apart Bread. It is made with refrigerated biscuit dough which makes things really easy. Almost too easy!

To increase the level of difficulty just a wee bit, several of the bakers in the group decided to make a version from scratch. We used the Cinnamon Bubble Bread recipe from King Arthur Flour.

The next Group Bake is English Muffins and it starts this weekend and runs through next weekend. If you would like to participate, look for information on the Artisan Bread Bakers Group on Facebook.

Cinnamon Bubble Bread

Makes: 2 Baking Pans or 1 Tube Pan of Cinna-bites

Ingredients:

 

Dough

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (9 ounces) milk
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) butter
• 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) sugar
• 1/4 cup (1 5/8 ounces) potato flour OR 1/2 cup dried potato flakes (I used potato flakes)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) water
• 1/2 teaspoon Buttery Sweet Dough Flavor, optional but good (I didn't use this - it didn't need it)
• 3 3/4 cups (15 3/4 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Topping

• 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) milk
• 1/3 cup (2 ounces) cinnamon-sugar
• 1/2 cup (6 ounces) maple syrup or cinnamon syrup, optional (I didn't use this - it was sweet enough)
• 1/4 cup (2 ounces) melted butter, optional (I did drizzle butter over the top - very nice addition)

Directions:

Using your hands, or a stand mixer, mix and knead all of the dough ingredients till you’ve got a smooth, fairly soft dough. Remember, the more flour you add to cut down stickiness, the drier and tougher your final bread will be; so go easy on flouring your kneading surface, if you’re doing this by hand.

Place all of the ingredients in the mixer bowl. Knead the dough with the dough hook until it is thoroughly mixed.  Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead until smooth.

 

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and allow it to rise at room temperature for an hour; it’ll be puffy, though not necessarily doubled in bulk.

 

I started this process last night but decided to make the Monkey Bread for breakfast today instead so I placed the bowl in the refrigerator overnight. I took the dough out and let it come to room temperature and proceeded with the rest of the instructions below:

Gently deflate the dough.

 

Transfer the dough to a clean work surface.  Place the milk and the cinnamon sugar in separate small bowls.

Lightly grease a tube pan. Tear off 1"-or-so pieces of the dough. (If you bothered to round them into balls, they’d be about the size of chestnuts; but you’re not bothering to do that.)

Dip the irregular dough pieces into the milk.  Then dip each piece of dough into the cinnamon.

Place them, close together, in the prepared pan(s). Each pan should be full enough that you can only see the bottom of the pan in scattered places.

Cover the pan, and allow the dough to rise for about 90 minutes.

It should be puffy, though probably not doubled in bulk.

Drizzle the bites with melted butter, if desired. Bake them in a preheated 350°F oven for 20 to 22 minutes, or until they’re beginning to brown around the edges, and they seem done.

Note: To check for doneness, I separated one of the pieces slightly. It looked a little gooey so I let it bake just a little bit longer, then checked it again and it was ready.

Remove the pans from the oven, and carefully turn the Monkey Bread out of the pan onto a rack to cool.

Serving the Monkey Bread

 

Serve the bites warm or at room temperature. Here is the yummy bread. We've already started eating it and it's going fast! If you want some, you better get it now before my sons eat it all.

 

Thanks for visiting The Bread Experience Bread-Baking Blog.

 

Happy Baking!
Cathy