5th try at Baguette

This is my fifth try.

I think I am at the stage where I can document my steps. Baking a baguette apparently cannot follow recipe completely. A lot depends on the bread you have, the type and idiosyncracies of the oven, and even possibly the humidity.

Lots of patience is needed.

1. You want at least 65 to 70% hydration. This means the ratio of the weight of water to the weight of the flour. In my case, I used about 325g of water to 500 g of bread flour.
2. Use a bit more salt than you think you need. I use about 2 tsp salt.
3. To start, in a metal container, put in lukewarm water, 2tsp salt and 2.5 tsp instant yeast. In a previous iteration I also put in a several drops of olive oil and honey. Mix well for 30 seconds or so.
4. Pour in the flour and stir until well incorporated. Then flour your hands and shape the dough. The rest must be slightly wet and sticky. If you still see flakes of flour, wet your hands at the tap and transfer to the dough. Repeat until you get fairly smooth and wet and sticky dough.
5. Rest for 10 mins. Then gently (!) fold the dough a few times (like a hanky). One way is to simply lift a corner and the dough lifts away, and you can fold it in. Turn the dough around and put the seam side down. Rest 10 mins and repeat (total of 4 times).
6. Always be gentle with the dough so as not to disturb the internals (you are trying for holes or "crumb").
7. Put the dough in the fridge in a lightly oiled container and cover for 2 to 4 days. (4 days is best).
8.  Take out dough and let it gradually warm (3 hrs or so). Tip it out to a surface.
9. Once again, fold it in a few times, and let it rest 1 hour. It will expand again!
10. Repeat once or twice more (depending on the time you have).
11. On the last fold, start shaping your baguette (500 g will make 2 pretty large baguettes or 3-4 smaller ones) into batons. Let it rest for 1 hour again. The baguette will lose its shape a little and flatten out. You can gently pull it and shape it a little during this time. (some web pages I have seen use towels run up into troughs to put the baguettes in to help them hold the shape - gotta try it sometime).
12. 30-45 mins before baking, heat the oven to max (mine's at 250C). Put a large tray of water at the bottom of the oven.
13. Just before baking, slit the baguette with parallel slits sideways about 2-3 cm deep. Spray water on the silpat - lots of water. Small pools of the water is ok.
14. Open the oven door (Careful of the steam!) and quickly insert the baguettes.
15. Set timer for 25 mins. Do not open the oven door for any reason.
16. At 25 mins, take out the tray, turn on the top oven broiler. Turn the baguettes upside down and put it back in the oven to grill the bottoms of baguettes until browned (abt a minute or two on mine).
17. Cool baguettes in open air. Then you can store it (or eat it!).

This is the result tonight. Crossing my fingers that when I slice tomorrow, the inside will be good with holes.

Here's the cut

Semi achieved my large crumb. Taste is good.

I have a further problem. When kept overnight, the bread crust isn't crisp on its own. To restore the "crustiness" you have to put it back in the oven. Obviously I can't do this and pack lunch.  It may be I just have to bake it fresh on the actual day of consumption - a bit of a bother. 

I just put some in the fridge. I'm going to try to restore it and see how it tastes.

Roast cashews

Nothing like doing your own roast cashews aside from the fact that its cheaper. 

For mine, I dribble a little olive oil and mix the nuts to coat them lightly. Then I put into a 170-180C oven and take them out when they start to get brown and fragrant. I let them sit in the tray while stirring the lot until they brown further. Spill to a cool plate and let it cool completely before storing.

3 red vegetable soup

And the 3 "red" veg are beets, tomatoes and bell peppers. With assorted other veg including left over cabbage.

I canned the whole lot into the freezer. Bought a new 2nd fridge for $298 at Courts. Plenty of space now!

4th try at baguette

Getting there.....

Texture is pretty good (though ugly). It has a crunch on the outside and chewy inside. I sprayed a bunch of water on the silpat before putting it inside the steam filled oven.

The taste inside is better, due to sitting in the fridge for 2 days (allows yeast to do its thing for flavor).

Inside, still no big holes, but I've researched it and I think I know why. More on the next installment.

I might get better shape and probably helps with the holes (though not the main cause) if I used bread flour. Yes, I have been using AP flour all this time! Incremental changes to allow me to see the effects.

Breakfast with the result

The one above is off the same batch of dough only baked one day later. Shape is nicer now.

Third try at Baguette

This one looks the nicer looking of the 3 (don't know about taste yet - that's for breakfast tomorrow).

This time, I did not follow instructions and open the oven every 5 mins to spray water. First my oven isn't as hot as 550F, and every time I open the oven I lose heat. Instead I just lined the bottom of the oven with a tray and 2 bowls full of water and preheated the oven to max temp of 250C and have the the water boil furiously. Second I baked in the oven for longer 20 to 25 mins not 15.

The bottom of the loaf is white looking, but this time, no matter. When I want to eat, I'll turn on the grill and grill that side.

Made some herb butter as well. A bit dubious about it. The top one is thyme and rosemary. The bottom one is basil and garlic. For the first one, I got impatient and heated the butter in the microwave - big mistake. Hope its okay (can't see herbs - all sunk to the bottom).

Getting closer to a presentable baguette.

Breakfast the next morning below. Threw away the herbed butter with the Rosemary and Thyme - it didn't look good. Bread is pretty decent. Basil and Garlic herbed butter was nice but garlic is slightly overpowering (will add less next time).

Second try at Baguette. Plus Beef Stew to keep it company.

Ok. My second try at doing a baguette. The dough this time is a little wetter because after I kneaded it for a bit, I sprinkled water until it seems ok. Second, I did not use the Silpat, instead I placed it on the pizza stone. I also made the loaf larger and wetted the inside of the dough before I folded it. 

The top of the baguette looks ok. The bottom is a little underdone - i think next time I try placing the baguette on the grating instead so that air gets at the bottom. (Wonder if a steam convection oven might help :-) wishful thinking). Just before dinner, I turned on the top grill in oven and grilled the bottom of the baguette to fix this.

Taste test: Fairly good this time! The crust is pretty good. Inside, the bread is denser than a normal baguette, but otherwise is good.

Stew. Some notes for the record.

1. Browned beef in a few tablespoons of my duck fat (left over from my roast duck experiment).
2. Stir fry mirepoix on moderate heat until the veg looks a bit translucent. Then add the tomato paste and garlic and stir fry to let it caramelize. The browned beef bits should be scraped off the bottom and incorporated at this time.
3.  Didn't have herbs de provence. Inexplicably went missing. Subbed with a tied up bunch of thyme and a large bay leaf.
4. 1/3 bottle of red wine, 1/4 cup or so cognac and a little chicken stock to balance the fluid.
5. After initial boil, place the pot in oven at 90C. Since it was in an oven, I went out for lunch - about 90 minutes.
6. Take out beef and large cut carrots. Remove herbs. Blend the rest smooth. Put the beef back. Tested beef - not quite tender yet (as expected).
7. Put pot in oven for another hour or so at the same low heat.
8. Fry mushrooms in butter and add it to stew. Simmer another 20 mins or so.

MW says stew quite good, but not my best.

Looks a bit better than last time. This time after I mixed it and kneaded a little, I sprinkled water and continue kneading until "it looks right".

Finished product. The underside is a little white. Next time I try grill.

Same from different angle.

Haven't done beef stew for some time. Clockwise, mirepoix from celery, carrots, onions and bell pepper, duck fat (left over from my roast duck - I used a few tablespoons), tomatoes, canned tomato paste, beef (lightly floured). The beef was on special - $15+ for about 700+ grams.

Browned beef cubes.

Browned bits just before I do the mirepoix.

Cooking the mirepoix.

Took out the beef and large carrots and the herbs (thyme and bay leaf). Blended the rest and put it back. This sauce has a 1/3 bottle of red wine and quarter cup of cognac in it.

looks all right, but a bit dense perhaps.

One more pic at dinner.

First try at Baguette

Tried to follow this one: Food Wishes Baguette

Mediocre result.

First mistake is I think my dough was a bit dryish.

Second mistake was in the baking. The recipe called for a very hot oven at 550F (mine was 250C or 482F plus pizza stone), but perhaps its not the heat. Maybe I should shape a larger baguette, and bake slightly longer in the middle of the oven (I used the top).

Will retry.