Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Something to Brag About

On with my French baking.  Yesterday I made a couple of  bâtards. These are similar to baguettes only shorter and a little thicker.  A very French product.


 The ingredient amounts are exactly the same as I always use for my Spaghetti bread, but the method is quite different.  Again as for the croissants, the raising time is much greater.  You want the dough to raise 3 1/2 times it's original size, so more time is needed for raising.  I started this bread at 8:30 a.m. instead of 2:00 p.m.
The forming is also different and I also heated up a large brick to stick into a pan of hot water in my oven to create steam.  You also brush the bread with water a few times in the baking.  That gives it its nice brown color.
It's all in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  She has lots of illustrations to help you also.


 The French often break the bread and they don't use butter.  This is also a great bread for those sub-like sandwiches.  They were some of the best.
This is linked to Linky Party  Tuesday.

7 comments:

  1. Eloise and I liked your new bread and your croissants very much. We are glad you are home!

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  2. That bread looks amazing! My biggest weakness is fresh baked bread.

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  3. I love fresh baked bread but all attempts to make it have failed!

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  4. Love your bread, I have a house full of visitors at present so making bread loafs and bread buns daily, but nothing fancy. Cheers Glenda

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  5. Looks delicious! I'll have to figure out how to get me some of that!!!

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