When is a baguette a PITA?

[gfweb]

I just made the King Arthur baking  book's baguette. A decent thing, but a two day project and not so good that the effort is justified. Is there a simpler recipe that gives a good result?  

[keychris]

I use Reinhart's one in BBA, if I forget biga or poolish or whatever it is the night before I just put in a little sprouted wheat flour to get some nice enzymatic action you see from using those.

[gfweb]

6 hours ago, keychris said:

I use Reinhart's one in BBA, if I forget biga or poolish or whatever it is the night before I just put in a little sprouted wheat flour to get some nice enzymatic action you see from using those.

 

Thanks.

What's BBA?

 

[cakewalk]

4 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Thanks.

What's BBA?

 

Bread Baker's Apprentice

[Anna N]

12 hours ago, gfweb said:

I just made the King Arthur baking  book's baguette. A decent thing, but a two day project and not so good that the effort is justified. Is there a simpler recipe that gives a good result?  

Dan Leader’s 4-hour baguette. 

[Shalmanese]

I think if your Baguette ends up looking like a Pita, something has gone horribly wrong somewhere in your recipe.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, Shalmanese said:

I think if your Baguette ends up looking like a Pita, something has gone horribly wrong somewhere in your recipe.

 

I may be wrong but I suspect it was supposed to be a pun.

 

[pastrygirl]

16 hours ago, gfweb said:

A decent thing, but a two day project and not so good that the effort is justified.

 

Two days, but how much active time?  Is it more than maybe a starter, a punch down, and shaping after a night in the fridge?

 

 

[gfweb]

1 minute ago, pastrygirl said:

 

Two days, but how much active time?  Is it more than maybe a starter, a punch down, and shaping after a night in the fridge?

 

 

Good point.  Not much active time at all, really.

But when I want a baguette today I don't want to wait till tomorrow.

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, gfweb said:

Good point.  Not much active time at all, really.

But when I want a baguette today I don't want to wait till tomorrow.

 That was my thought about your complaint. 

[gfweb]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

Dan Leader’s 4-hour baguette. 

 

I just made this one. In 3 hours, because the proofing etc was done at 75 F which sped up the doubling in volume. Success!

Thanks, Anna!

 

 

Edited January 1, 2018 by gfweb (log)

[Anna N]

26 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

I just made this one. In 3 hours, because the proofing etc was done at 75 F which sped up the doubling in volume. Success!

Thanks, Anna!

 

 

 

You are welcome. I have made it a couple of times and been quite satisfied. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Nice loaf.  I sometimes find baguettes a pain myself.

 

[gfweb]

11 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Nice loaf.  I sometimes find baguettes a pain myself.

 

Yet you make one almost daily, no?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Bad puns aside, since Modernist Bread came out I've been trying to use their methods and have had wonderful success with boules but less so with baguettes.  I had thought to bake bread today but went with yeast raised waffles.

 

[pastrygirl]

7 hours ago, gfweb said:

But when I want a baguette today I don't want to wait till tomorrow.

 

Clearly you need to plan your cravings farther ahead 

 

But seriously, flavor takes time.  If you want a baguette 2 or 3 times a week, consider the "old dough" method (detailed by Peter Reinhart, I believe).  You keep a little blob of the last batch of dough souring in the fridge and add it to the new batch of dough.  Repeat.