Sunday, February 21, 2010

just when I thought I knew good bread...

I pulled the dough from the refrigerator this morning, and allowed to rise at room temperature until doubled, which took about 3.5 hours. Testing my patience, I know that in this case "slower is better." Once risen I had to resist the urge to punch down the dough, reminding myself this is not a sandwich bread, you want to keep as much carbon dioxide as possible to form those little holes throughout the baked loaf signature to quality baguettes. The dough was incredibly soft, and I handled with great care. Using my new pastry scraper, which was well worth the $5.99 investment.
After gently rolling the dough into an oblong shape I cut, or more like "pressed" using a sharp knife dipped in ice water to get the three baguettes. After resting for 5 minutes (to let the gluten relax to make shaping easier), I pulled them gently to make the final shape.
Due to a lack of a baking stone, I inverted a baking sheet, lined with parchment and dusted with cornmeal. Ready for the oven. Because this stove, like 99% of all home stoves does not have a steaming feature I placed a pan on the top and when loading the bread added a cup of boiling water, then periodically (3-30 sec. intervals) spritzed the oven to create steam-which is what will allow the crust to get crisp.
The finished product! Forced to stare at (and smell) while waiting for it to reach room temperature (coming down from the optimal internal temperature of 205 degrees).
It was, amazing. I have to say I'm in love with this recipe and can't wait to try others from the same book. The texture was crisp on the outside, yet creamy on the inside, with a subtle sweet-nut like flavor. Will be using tomorrow to make ham and gruyere sandwiches (left over from the souffle!).

it has been an awarding first day.

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