Posted on 05/25/2016 12:08:33 AM PDT by nickcarraway
From identical ingredients, artisan bakers from all over the country are creating their versions of the famous French bread under at tent pitched on the square outside Notre Dame cathedral.
There is a trick to it. They have to be baked on the top rack at a high temp with a pan of boiling water on the bottom. It's the moisture that makes it crusty. I saw another video where the chef sprayed a mist into the oven with a spray bottle at a certain time in the baking.
I love baguettes. And you can make neat little crudities from slices of stale ones and slather them with butter and garlic or whatever you like. Bluetons, hich are croutons drizzled with butter and grate some frozen blue cheese over them, lots, then bake for a few min. You freeze the blue cheese so it will grate and not crumble so much.
I will try to remember to check out the video tomorrow.
First, it is a fools errand to try to bake well “under a tent.” The ovens of artisans have been in place in many bakeries for a hundred years or more.
Having said that, for you amateurs out there, baking a good baguette is like doing your own dental work - a task best left to professionals.
Yum, those look good. Wish I were there so I could try some of it!
No better way to start the day than with fresh coffee,warm milk,and baguettes fresh from the oven with butter.
My wife and I arrived in Paris’ Charles DeGualle airport at dusk and by the time we made our way to the hotel via the train and checked into our room, it was far too late to get anything to eat from the hotel concierge’s menu. We were positively starving.
I remembered that as we rolled our baggage into the hotel there was a boulangerie downstairs and just around the corner that was still open for some reason, God only knows why. I ran in just as they were closing up and using my awful French managed to buy two long baguettes and a small tub of hand churned white farmer’s butter along with a plastic sleeve of some sort of sliced salami-like lunch meat that was made with red wine and minced garlic.
I got back upstairs and we just devoured those baguettes with butter and red wine flavored cold cuts. It’s been several years and I still remember what it tasted like. Somehow they can make bread crunchy on the outside so that every bite sends a shower of crust fragments in all directions, but the inside of the baguette loaf is soft but chewy. The whole room smelled like bakery dough, wine, and garlic. It was so good I was licking the paper bag the loaves came in to get every last crumb. Probably one of the best late night meals I’ve ever had.
France makes the best damned bread in the world as far as I am concerned.
Ah, yes, bread is definitely one of the finer things about France.
I will never forget the first week of my year as an exchange student in France, when the exchange organization took all of the incoming students up to Normandy to visit a bird preserve. Our hosts gave us picnic lunches—basically bread and butter—and let us out to explore. A group of us found a bunker that was just perfect for the four of us to sit on and look out at the beach. We talked about how good the bread and butter was... the historical significance of our perch was completely lost on us.
In today’s France, it better be Halal.
I just got back Satruday from a week in France. There are 3 boulangeries within a short block of the condo we stay at. The one I go to is within 75’ of the building front door. Awesome baguettes, croissants, and other breads, small pastries (mini eclairs, fruit tarts, chocolate mousses, 4-5 other goodies, and of course macaroons), and panini sandwiches that are the local equivalent of fast food, but so much better than a burger.
The French just do food right, and that store is but one example of many why. It was great being able to wake up, run downstairs in <5 minutes for a fresh pain chocolat (basically a square croissant with a little chocolate inside) for 1.10€, and make a cappuccino with the Nespresso machine for a perfect quick breakfast.
King Arthur Flour has a great recipe for Baguettes on their site. I use their recipe frequently. I spritz with water, just before baking, instead of a pan of water in the oven - delicious crunchy chewy crust.
I don’t have baguette pans, but I lay them on a sheet pan with parchment paper for the last rise and they come out fine. I make 4 out of the recipe below. It calls for three but they come out better for me making four.
CLASSIC BAGUETTES AND STUFFED BAGUETTES
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-baguettes-and-stuffed-baguettes-recipe
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I prefer making sourdough boules, but good baguettes are so tasty.
I don’t have much (really anything else) good to say about France, except DON’T MESS WITH THEIR BREAD. They know what they’re doing.
I agree but I would add their wine and cheese.
Wouldn’t mind being a judge at that contest....
Yum yum yum
I won’t argue that!
Too bad they won’t have a country anymore in a decade or so.
I love most of the recipes I’ve tried at the King Arthur site. The hamburger/hotdog buns turn out well.
I’ll have to try the baguette recipe.
There is no bread like real French baguettes. The bread of Paris was always the best when I traveled France, but regional variations in Normandy and Alsace were great too.
I really appreciate your tip about a far easier way to spray. And also for King Arthur's recipes. I've gotten other recipes from them and saved them (their easier puff pastry made with sour cream in a food processor). I'd order other items for them but their shipping is terrible.
They have much more to choose from than the supermarket.
I’ve made their hamburger buns and they’re just awesome...a real treat.
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