gfron1

Gorgeous pictures and a wonderful report! Thank you for sharing it. Marrakech has long been on my short list for travels and you've re-whet my appetite.

I use those rectangular stainless steel spoons that are intended to fit into spice jars. I measured on my .1g scale. I came up with 13.6 for 1T of water. But now even with all of the relatively sensitive pastry work that I do I think this is a fools journey. First, how comfortable are we with our scales. Second, water clinged to my spoon that wouldn't go into the measuring cup. It's just too imperfect. It takes me full circle - weigh everything (when it matters), calibrate your scale, and have reasonable, but blind faith, that the scale is correct.

Maybe twice a year I feel I have something worthy of sharing in this topic. Tonight is not one of them, but I'll share anyway. As chronicled HERE, I bought a couple of goats and a half of a bison recently. I've been noshing on goat for a while but I don't get to the bison as quickly (it takes some forethought to thaw the big cuts). I opened my T-Bone and then cut the fillet out (someone told me the fillet is the center of the T-Bone - don't know if its true). I then made homemade harissa, marinated the fillet and grilled it. Served with my sourdough non-baguette (Clickity for the my adventure) and some veggies.

Man those look great! I saved a minor disaster. I was making the chocolate walnut orange tarts from Ferber's Mes Tartes (a gift from a certain confectionary doctor) and as I was pulling the most beautiful tart shell out of the oven, it bumped and fell flat on the bottom of the oven. I had the filling still so I dropped it in my mini-cups and baked away!

It seems to me that there are so many variables at play here. I know this is done all the time, but how can you determine a shelf life when you can't control shipping, storage and display temps, light, etc. Do these people give you a shelf life which is the absolute minimum?

Oh! I remember a doozy! Patrick A (our proud recent graduate) was making a blackberry reduction for me in his school kitchen and didn't hold the lid down on the blender. The top popped and blackberry juice covered the ceiling, walls, floor, and his brand new white chef's jacket (he was so proud of that jacket). What a mess. But I didn't hate cleaning it...that was my intern's job!

OMG! That's a first attempt?! Those are beautiful and darn near perfect.

We all work too hard here in the P&B forum. So, I wanted to take a little break and ask what you hate to clean in your P&B kitchen. Top of mind is the mixer bowl after making bread, but I don't think that's my LEAST favorite. I would have to say a pot of crystallized sugar after I messed up a caramel or syrup. What's yours? (btw, if you have an intern, there's nothing you hate to clean )

Rona gets the kewpie doll! I realized that at about the same time as you posting it. Once I finished reading through the baguette topics, I noticed that my recipe was nothing like any posted in these topics. My recipe is 1-2-1 Starter-Flour-Water, salt after autol. It was a recipe that I found in one of the sourdough topics (darn eGulleters always leading you astray! ). That said, the tips that everyone has offered have done the trick and my loaves (whatever they may be) are coming out perfect. I will now step back and look at BAGUETTE recipes and see if I can't work that into my production schedule. And judec - those are beautiful - whatever they are Welcome, glad to have you on board.

Except I read the recipe to say that its using the ultra refined almond paste (ie Odense for retail buyers) versus the less refined combination of almond and powdered sugar. I think I would miss that texture - it gives the cookie a bit more character.

Chufi, I just remembered a really amazing restaurant (not fancy, but incredibly good) in Reserve (town of 387 residents). Its called Adobe Cafe. Its a brother sister team in a town that even I think is in the middle of nowhere - in fact 2 hours from my middle of no-where. They proudly boast that they have more elk than people - and that's an understatement. Great green chile burgers and stew, but really you go for their desserts. Not patisserie, but great baking. I went in a couple of years ago and they had about 15 desserts in the case. I jokingly asked for a sampler platter and a few minutes later they produced a plate with 15 desserts, and then apologized because their trifle wasn't finished, but if I could wait an extra 10 minutes they would bring that out too. Cost: $7.50! Nice, nice folks. If you go that route, you'll want to hit up Pie Town (to the North) and you know what they're known for. They have a pie festival sometime around when you'll be coming in (Sept 13). If you head south (toward me), there's the Catwalk which is a fun day hike into a river/creek deep canyon, and also the town old ghost town of Mogollon (muggy-yone).

Right now I'm just using Gold Medal Bread flour, but I'm looking to see what options my various distributors have. And for pricing, I'm putting the "perfect" ones at $2.50 and the subpar from $1.75-$2.25 depending on how subpar. I'm planning on pricing at 2.95 or 3.50 once I take the "Test Loaf" label off. Thanks for the reminder on Chris' CIA day. That makes eatrustic's slashing technique crystal clear. I'll do that on tomorrow's loaves.

First off - I REALLY appreciate you all taking the time to hold my hand through this. Second, I PMd jackal and said I was going to re-read all of the info in the various baguette topics (including his demo). I am doing that today. Now, I just pulled four batards and acknowledge that they are not baguettes. I'll work on my shaping and slashing so I can call them baguettes again (my sales label won't be changing however). You're right on about the blistering - I retard overnight. I've been bits n pieces about my process and if I shouldn't do that, I won't. It would save me time. Although, as you said, my customers seem to like it. None of the four that I pulled had splits. Based on previous comments I proofed a bit longer, lowered my temp to 450 (from 495) and proofed with a cup of hot water in the container to attempt to maintain the moisture. All or part of those changes did the trick apparently.

I think my baguette became a batard when I baked it out of the form. The two done in the form kept their long slender shape. Since I don't have the luxury of a proofing box to maintain moisture, and not form that skin, any suggestions? And as for the temp, I lowered the temp from 495 to 450 on one round and didn't care as much for the crust. It wasn't quite as crisp and thin. Is there a target I should head to? Does my altitude have any effect? I'm at 6,000 ft. Thanks

Not rose water, but rose syrup... A friend of mine has an AGA and so he gets the AGA magazine which has really great recipes in it. Some need decyphering since they were intended for the AGA cooking system and not a mere oven, but they're doable. Today I made the Rose, Almond and Orange Breadcrumb Cake: 300g Superfine/Caster sugar 75g Stale breadcrumbs/brioche is ideal 225g Ground almonds 2 t. Baking powder (I used only 25% for my altitude adjustment) 200 ml sunflower oil 5 eggs, slightly beaten Zest from 1 orange 100 ml rose syrup (I used Cortas brand) Juice of 1 orange Oven to 350F, grease 8x12 pan or line with parchment. Combine sugar, crumbs, almonds and BP and then add oil, eggs and zest. Pour into pan. Bake 30 minutes or until done. Let sit in oven 10 minutes with door cracked. Warm syrup and juice and then pour over cake. Allow to cool to room temp before serving. They recommend serving with a cinnamon whipped cream and yogurt which probably would have been good had I been patient enough to make it.

One of the things I've mentioned in a previous post is that I saw the servers responding differently based on the customers. My spouse and I were inquisitive and playful (read intoxicated). A table next to ours was all business. Another was a son showing off for his parents. Another was totally out of their league and had no idea of what anything was. Each of us had basically the same food, but I observed the servers being very different with each table. They must have simply mis-read you.

Our chef's son's 1st birthday was yesterday so I made his favorite banana-banana-banana! But I adulterated it for the adults. Four layers of chocolate genoise, in between each was banana pastry cream, topped with banana whipped cream, and filled with caramelized bananas. I think he liked it, but he didn't say.

Okay - many topics in this post... First, my cripple: 3 of the 4 loaves did this to varying degrees. One did not. That one was in my batch of two that I proofed about 30 minutes longer. And in fact, here it is: So poofy - I just wanted to cuddle up in it! Here's my odd staining: I've been using a blue steel pan lined with parchment. I won't be anymore...this is unacceptable for selling. Here's the one that came out perfect (IMO):

Each batch gets us closer. My loaves sold out literally within 5 minutes of opening the store today (that's a problem in itself). One buyer, a former professional baker, was having orgasms in the middle of my competitor's restaurant where she ate my bread - report came back from someone else in the restaurant. So, I'm very satisfied with the taste and crust. I'm going to try the skillet and free form baking with tomorrow's loaves.

Great - thanks. (Why not just come visit for a weekend and let's get this troubleshooting done with ). Today I'm going to proof longer than I have been. My slashes are deeper than they have been. I hopefully have resolved my seem issue from before. I don't have the mould marks that you mention because I lined my mould with parchment (it was leaving ugly coloration on the bottom). The steam is a bit trickier since I'm using a home oven. I have a tray of water on my bottom shelf and spritz the heck out of it (watching not to lose too much heat when I open). Results in a bit. I'll work on the flipping board. But let me get this straight. I'll slash in the mould. Then flip upside down on the board. So when I turn the loaf onto the stone in the oven, the slashes will alredy be on top. Correct?

A "wow" of humility, respect and life. Yours is a step that I didn't have the opportunity to share in. Both the goat and bison processors were afraid to have their work documented - both citing the recent California cow incident. I've seen your pics, and I have no need to see it first-hand. I was honored enough to meet my goats and then share them as food with friends. I have never looked at mystery meat (styrofoam tray meat) the same since, nor have I shied away from eating meat. Its a valuable journey for anyone to take, and I feel at some guttural level, that it is a step that will become increasingly important for our society in the future. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Reviving an old topic that is particularly relevant for me right now. Does anyone bake their baguettes on a baguette pan v. free form on a stone? I'm placing my baguette pan on the stone as I bake to keep the shape perfect. I also don't know if this has anything to do with my eruption issues. BTW, about 3/4 through baking, I pull them off the pan and finish directly on the stone.

Domino's Brownulator sugar says it won't cake or clump. Can we assume there's an additive - starch maybe? I wonder if you couldn't buzz it in your coffee grinder with a hint of starch to get to powdered brown sugar. What do you need it for? I can see all sorts of uses, but in most I could see adding a hint of molasses to get it close.

Hmmm...okay. Its funny because our cafe chef, which is a separate business, makes boxed cake selling slices that are maybe 2 inches wide in a bundt pan (so not long), and sells them for $1.50 and they fly out the door. I think people are nuts, but if they're willing to pay for it. And I will work on the packaging. I like the "band" concept, but you're right that it hides the product...except when the product needs hiding

I also want to add that I'm eating a baguette I just baked that had a really ugly blow out. And I share this with all of you because like many of you, anything I bake gives credit to all of my eG friends who taught me much of what I know. This bread is incredible. The crumb is chewy and not so tight that its boring. But not too airy that it won't hold butter and feel substantial. The crust - and this is what I'm most excited about - is perfectly crisp but not so thick that you cut up your mouth eating it. Its just perfect and the best mistake I've ever eaten!