I have not left France yet, but I worry that I will have withdrawls from my daily baguette. So I am already thinking that I need to learn how to bake my own. I can grill practically anything, but baking is not my forte...but what alternative do I have.

Has anyone had any success baking a baguette in the US? I know we use different flour, any suggestions? Any recipes or cookbooks someone would recommend?

Sorry, lots of questions and very few answers. But I promise that I will share my insights once I can bake an acceptable product.

merci...ed

It's not easy! You'd think something with just four ingredients (flour, water, yeast and salt) would be. I've been trying off and on for a few years and have made some pretty good bread in a baguette shape, but I've never got the texture and crust right for a real baguette.

I've been using instructions from Peter Reinhardt's The Bread Baker's Apprentice and from another book that's no longer in print called "No Need to Knead" by Suzanne Dunaway.

I'd been trying to cook it on a baking stone, but I recently bought a baguette pan to see if that will help me get the crust I'm after.

I think the major difficulty is that you just can't get the same results with a home oven as with a commercial bread oven.

My best results have been with bread flour. I think it's Pillsbury, in a brown bag that mentions artisanal breads (sorry, I move flour into cannisters so I don't have a bag to refer to). I think King Arthur sells a European style bread flour too, although I haven't tried it yet.

That Pillsbury flour is called Harvest King. I just found this blog entry that convinces me I need to order the King Arthur flour!

The second volume of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking has detailed directions on how to make various kinds of bread, including the traditional baguette.

It has diagrams and explanations of how and why things work - like why you want a blast of steam to improve the crust.

Almost 40 years old, but still a classic.

Oooooo, I can almost smell it now! Your making me hungry.

Chris -

Those recipes never work unless your wearing a beret and have a filterless gitane hanging out of your mouth...

-Kevin

I am not a bread baker (lousy oven in small apt); but I DO read a lot of recipes...try Googling
The Art of Eating. This is a lovely quarterly publication by Edward Behr, who investigates food, does thoughtful articles in depth, and is incredibly knowlegdable and readable.
The website has a list of back issues, and a recipe index for finding specifics. There have been many articles about bread baking (history, what makes French bread different, how to get results in US, recommended bread baking books, etc).
The A of E also has issues devoted to other single subjects (certain wines, specific cheeses), and to the food of certain regions
usually in France or Italy, sometimes in the US...also book review, and more. I use it as a travel guide, and recommend it very highly.


good luck

Karen

quote:

a filterless gitane

So that's the flavor that's missing! Would you send me a carton or two?

Chris -

No can do. Against my sanctimonious anti-smoking religion. Oops - guess that should have been posted on the "smoking in france" thread.

-Kevin

p.s.: only three months to go till we can all eat in peace.

Oh well! I don't think I could really smoke them anyway.

Thanks, Karen! I'm looking at the website and I'll probably subscribe. I love the looks of the set of old France-related issues, but the price is a little steep for me right now, when I'm saving all my extra pennies to buy macarons next spring.

Carlux, I agree that that blast of steam is what the crust needs. I've cracked the glass on one oven door trying to re-create it by spraying into the hot oven so I'm a little cautious about it now though.

it will not work; the French in South Florida import their machines and supplies to do it.All the bakeries have French machines,and supplies.
I was part of the expat group there,and met all the entrepreneurs!

There's a whole lot of difference in home baking for your own use and commercial baking, pedmar. I'm certainly not giving up trying for a good homemade baguette because I don't have commercial equipment imported from France!

Chris, do you get Acme bread from Berkeley where you live? I always thought it was pretty good.

I don't mean to discourage you, but I think Pedmar is right. Without the flour and equipment a French boulanger has, you won't be able to make anything that really resembles a good French baguette.

Yes, I DO get Acme baguettes, when I can get to Corti Bros early enough in the day! And you're right, they're the best available in this area.

But I love to bake bread, and I'm not ready to give up yet.

quote:

home baking

well of course home baking wont taste or feeel the same as commercial baking; but as i said, you wont replicate a French baguette as is.
One more reason to make you come back to France

I rrealize that it will be hard to replicate, but thanks for the advice.

I think I will start with Julia's book since I have that already, although I have rarely used volume 2 in the past. I also like the hint about the burst of humidity, I was thinking to try one of the sprayers you use to spritz house plants.

I'll try to get baking in a couple weeks.

merci....ed

I think a plant spritzer or any other way you think of to get steam in the oven is a good idea. You might just throw a quarter cup of water on the bottom of the oven as the bread is baking.

Nothing beats a warm baguette slathered with brie....

A pan of water in the bottom of the oven is supposed to help, and a quick spritz in the oven or right on the loaf. Be careful with that spritzer, though, and don't hit the hot glass on the inside of the door of your oven. That's how I cracked mine.

I found that special hard King Arthur flour at Whole Foods yesterday. Sometime this weekend I'll try it and maybe post a photo of my result, if it's not too pathetic.

I'm a little spoiled, living in the Bay Area, because we DO have some pretty good baguettes here...Acme is just the first of several bakeries.
Bay Boulangerie (run by a Frenchman) gets their flour from a small mill in Utah, I think...want me to try to find what/where, Chris?
Of course, the one ingredient we can't replicate is the atmosphere...having your baguette in France!

Karen

Chris -

We want a photo - NO MATTER WHAT THE RESULT !

And remember, there is always Photoshop...

-Kevin

OK, OK, I'll do photos.

I found this great Julia Child video with a very good demonstration of technique.

The recipe I'm going to use calls for a starter (or poolish). I'll start that tonight and make the bread tomorrow.

Chris, I hope it turns out delicious and tasty. I'm sure it will be fun to make. Do send a picture.

So here's the dough just after being shaped. It's now resting in the refrigerator until tomorrow morning when I'll let it complete the final rise and then bake it.

Chris, looks like you are off to a good start...ed

The bread is singing, making those crackling noises that mean a good crust! And the house smells like heaven.

I really need to buy a lame, the tool for slashing the crust. My serrated knife didn't do all that well.

It's still too hot to cut into it to see how the crumb looks and how it tastes, but here's how it looks. These could pass as short fat baguettes.

I couldn't wait any longer. The crumb isn't as light as a really good baguette, but it's not dense or heavy either. And the flavor is wonderful, the best flavor I've ever managed to coax out of a bread made with just flour, yeast and salt.

The question is whether it's worth the effort if you can buy a good baguette. There's not a lot of labor or dirty dishes involved, but the elapsed time since I started the sponge is about 36 hours. I used that special expensive King Arthur flour, although it still only cost less than $2 for these three loaves. And I've got more bread than we will eat before it gets stale. I'll freeze at least one loaf to see how that works.

I think I'll continue to work on it, because while it's not as good as a really good baguette, it's far better than a mediocre baguette.


Here's the crumb.

I am really impressed. Wish I could smell and taste these. Did you spritz or throw water into your oven to make steam while the baguettes were baking?

Do you have any good cheese to go with the bread?

Brava, Chris. Those loaves look incredible! I can only imagine how wonderful your house must smell this morning!

Judy

Chris,
Those look fantastic!
I've been buying a baguette or two a week since I got home from France - trying them from the various stores around here ... nothing has rocked my world yet. Yours look like they would!

You are an inspiration, but I am a bit worried that I will not be able to bake anything near that tasty looking.

Also I had to laugh as you mentioned the costs. Since I am not a baker I need to buy a few things. I estimate it will cost me about $10 per loaf

Excellent Chris! But that reminds me, as soon as the weather breaks on Wednesday I have to go back and to that other bread recipe we were all obsessed with last winter.

We've been eating out so much lately, I've hardly cooked and it's starting to grate on me.

Thanks everyone!

Ed, you're right about the costs. If I added in the KitchenAid mixer I use for kneading since my arthritic thumbs can't handle it, the baking stone, the bread pan, the scale I just ordered from Amazon so I can make the loaves exactly the same size next time, the lame I've decided I need, etc., it would add up to an expensive loaf. But I do bake bread on a regular basis, so I have most of that stuff anyway.

Ken, yes I did spritz, liberally, several times during the first five minutes. I need to go in search of great cheese today. All I have in the house is parmesan, feta and some gruyere. What I need is a good aged goat cheese.

In case anyone is interested, the recipe I used is here.

Hey Chris - before you rush to buy a lame, have you tried an old fashioned razor blade? Somewhere in my memory banks from when I used to bake bread I remember a suggestion that a single edged razor blade be used to score the tops.

Judy

I thought of that, too, Judy, but it just doesn't have the same romance, and it doesn't give me an excuse for a trip to my favorite kitchen toy store.

Yep, Chris -- you are definitely my kind of gal!

Judy

Chris, those are beautiful! Oh my! Hmmmmm, I'm having a bread fantasy about Paso Robles...

Palma - SIT! STAY! We absolutely do not need delicious homemade baguettes on top of mac and cheese... where is the Michelin Man icon when we need him... can you spell B L I M P?

Judy

Hey! There are no calories in baguettes!

I'm not sure about the logistics of getting them there fresh enough to be worthwhile, but I'll give it some thought. Besides, I'm not sure that I can reproduce my results. It may have been beginners' luck.

Chris ~

Your baguettes look fabulous and totally professional. Brava to you! May I put my order in now?

Judy...just a TASTE??? with BUTTER!

(I'm not even a bread lover! I eat bread once a week. And when I do, I want it to be GOOD!)

I can SMELL those in the photo!

I PROMISE not to post photos of every loaf of bread I ever bake, but I did want to report that it wasn't a fluke. The three baguettes I baked this morning may have been even better than the first three. The crumb was lighter, I think a result of letting it rise an hour or so before refrigerating the unbaked loaves yesterday afternoon.

Chris, if the bread is as good as your pictures, then it's fantastic. Have you done a taste and texture comparison with, say, an Acme baguette or Grace or another good California bread?

Better than Grace, I think. Grace tends to be a little spongy, or at least the Grace baked at the store where I buy it. I was thinking about going to get an Acme baguette to do a comparison. I'll do that and report back later today.

Then I guess I should make breadcrumbs out of the loser, shouldn't I?

I bought an Acme loaf and did the side-by-side comparison. I described the whole adventure on my blog here.