"Bouchon Bakery" – The Book

[&roid]

I got this book a few weeks ago and have been absolutely loving it. I've never really made bread that I've been happy with before but it's made all the difference to me, it feels like I've still got a long way to go but things are finally starting to click - I love the attention to detail, the way that the whole process is discussed at such length, it makes it a lot easier to understand what matters and how to control things.

So far, I've made a sourdough boule, some pretty rough baguettes and today a bâtard. The flour I'm using seems to need a little less water than the recipes suggest as the baguette/bâtard doughs have been quite hard to handle, but the taste has been a world away from the usual stuff I've made. The main difference seems to be the tiny amounts of yeast used compared to recipes I've used before. Bread finally tastes like "proper" bread rather than the strange approximation I'm used to.

I did a search to see if there was a thread on this book already but couldn't find it, mods feel free to merge it if there is.

[cherylf2112]

Your bread is gorgeous!! I have that book, but haven't made the breads. I will certainly be giving it a try. Thanks for sharing.

[&roid]

Thak you!

Can't recommend it highly enough, there's a fair bit to read through but it all makes sense and the recipes really do work well. It's the details like the precision of measurement and the steam generation that set it apart from all my other baking books.

Let us know how you get on!

[&roid]

So, my next adventures with this book were croissants and the plum tart.

Both were really fun to make, I had to fudge the croissant recipe a bit as I made it too late last night to bake them before I went to bed. After shaping them I put them in the fridge then brought them out again for an hour this morning before baking. I don't think this was a good idea! they didn't really rise and although they had a great flavour they were far denser than they should have been. Should have known better than to go against what was in this book!

The plum tart could probably have done with 5 minutes less in the oven as it's a bit darker than I would want.

Overall though I'm happy with what I've learnt.

Piping needs some work:

Disappointing inside of the croissants:

Edited September 21, 2013 by &roid (log)

[cakewalk]

Very nice. I recently got this book, but haven't had time to sit down and read through it yet. (Except I made the oatmeal cookies, which I didn't like at all, but I figure that's not really what the book is for.) Just curious -- did you put chains and stones in your oven for the steam? It's very intimidating! But your breads are certainly beautiful. And I like the braid in the bottom picture, with the croissants. Is that four strands?

[&roid]

I didn't manage to find the chain but I got some rocks from the garden, it works really well. Plus it gets you some really funny looks from your other half!

It is four strands in the plait, we were just messing about with off cuts from squaring up the dough but I actually quite like them

[&roid]

Made some real progress this weekend, tried the bâtards again, tweaked the recipe a little (leaving out about 20ml of water) and, due to circumstances, left the dough to ferment a bit longer. I'd have been happy if I'd bought these at a real baker - can't believe I made them! Really great texture, soft and light, the crust could have been a little crisper so that's the next thing to aim for but I'll be very happy if I can consistently make bread like this.

This is a real revelation of a book for me

[janeer]

Wow. May need to add to my collection

[Bojana]

I am in love with this book too but never tried making bread from it. Now tempted, having seen the pics above. My go to book for many basics. Clear, precise instructions that work every time.

[&roid]

Lemon and poppyseed muffins this weekend. These are great muffins, really light and fluffy with a great balance between the sweetness and the lemon flavour. It's a pretty easy recipe, there's a bit of planning involved resting the batter overnight but it'll now be my go to recipe for muffins.

[emmalish]

I picked this book up on a whim this summer. I've browsed through it (and oooh'd and aaaah'd) several times, but haven't actually made anything yet. Looking forward to joining this party though. :-)

&roid, that plum tart is gorgeous!