Traditional French baguette: cooking secrets and recipe. French baker's secret to making a baguette
How long have I wanted to bake a real French baguette! This delicious long bread with a crispy crust and a soft center makes beautiful little sandwiches and is delicious just like that!
For a long time I went around and around recipes, it all seemed that a baguette at home is difficult. But I was asked to make French onion soup. And, as you know, they serve croutons from a French baguette with cheese! But there was no long bread in the store, and serving croutons from ordinary bread would be inauthentic ... And so I decided - since the baguette is not in the store, then I will still bake it at home!
And it turned out that baking a homemade baguette is a very simple matter, but on the contrary, it is very simple and pleasant. In general, baking homemade bread is an incomparable pleasant experience! Messing with bread dough is more mysterious than with pies and cakes, you feel like a sorceress and a real Keeper of the Hearth!
After studying several recipes, I learned that baguettes are different! Rice (who would have thought that boiled rice can be added to the dough!), Onion (mmm ... we will try them again!), Well, for the first time I decided to bake a simple baguette. Flour, yeast, water, salt and sugar - that's the whole set of ingredients, and what a delicious bread it turns out!
Most baguette recipes use dry yeast, but since I prefer fresh, I simply didn’t have dry yeast. Then I did a good search, and - hurray! - I managed to find a recipe on the Magic Food website, where the dough is kneaded with fresh yeast. And it is mixed in an unusual way. If I am used to the fact that fresh yeast is ground with sugar and diluted with water, then in this recipe they crumble directly into flour! This is a recipe by French baker Richard Bertinet. Very interesting. Let's try!
If you have dry yeast, I recommend baking baguettes according to the recipe of my friend Marie on her website: http://receptimari.com/vipechka/nesladkaya-vipechka/xachapuri-pizza-chebureki/frantsuzskiy-baget-v-duhovke.html
I slightly reduced the amount of ingredients, because. I had not 20, but 15 g of yeast. I give my version and in parentheses - the original.
Ingredients:
For 3 baguettes:
- 15 (20) g of fresh yeast;
- 3 and ¾ (5) glasses of flour (my glass is 200 grams, 130 grams of flour is placed in it, if without a top);
- 300 (400) ml of warm water (38C);
- 1 small-heaped (1.5) teaspoon salt
- A pinch of sugar;
- A little vegetable oil to lubricate the hands, bowl and table.
How to bake:
Take a large enough bowl and sift all the flour into it.
Flour is enriched with oxygen, which yeast needs for good fermentation, becomes airy!
And now, right into the flour, we crumble fresh pressed yeast with our hands, trying to make the crumbs smaller.
Salt and sugar.
And we grind the yeast with flour with our fingers to fine fluffy crumbs, sort of like we grind flour with butter for shortbread cookies. Only even smaller, the more homogeneous, the better, so that the yeast mixes well with flour. Pounded yeast is collected in a pile at the top of the flour hill.
Now we make a recess in the flour with yeast - sort of like a volcano crater - and pour water into it. The water should be well warm, but not hot.
Mix the dough first with a fork.
Then, sprinkling flour on the table, put the dough from the bowl there and continue to knead on the table.
There are several important nuances here:
- The dough should remain slightly sticky. Do not add a lot of flour, and then the baguette will turn out airy and soft!
- And so that the dough does not stick strongly to your hands and the table, grease them a little with vegetable oil. Just do not overdo it, a thin layer is enough. At first I sprinkled a little flour on the table twice, and then I greased the table with oil, and the dough stopped sticking, it was very pleasant to knead.
- And another important point - we will knead for a long time, at least 15, and preferably 20 minutes. But it just seems like a long time. I used to rush all the time, and at first I thought, wow, knead the dough for 20 minutes! Yes, so much can be done during this time! But it is necessary to knead the dough properly - then it will rise well, and the bread will turn out lush and soft, even if there are no eggs or butter in it. And then, in the process of kneading, the dough becomes homogeneous, smooth, and even without adding flour, it stops sticking.
Here is the dough at the beginning of the kneading:
In 5 minutes:
And after 10 minutes:
It turned out to be very pleasant - not to rush anywhere, knead warm, pleasant dough and think about something, looking out the window at the spring rain. Indeed, sometimes we do not have enough time to just relax and think about something of our own - so, try kneading yeast dough, this is a great relaxation!
After 15-20 minutes, put the dough in a bowl greased with vegetable oil, cover with a clean towel and put in a warm place for an hour and a half.
As time goes by, the dough will rise and begin to come out of the bowl.
Grind the table with flour and dump the dough out of the bowl onto the table. No need to crush!
Just divide the dough into 3 pieces (if you bake a full portion, then into 4).
From each lump of dough we form a rectangle, stretching it with our hands. The rectangular cake will be small, smaller than a sheet of A4 paper - but don't worry, in the process of forming the baguette will turn out to be the length of the entire baking sheet.
Now we bend one edge of the rectangle to the center.
Then we bend the second edge in the same way to the middle.
We fold the workpiece in half (that is, in total, four times), and pinch the edge.
Now let's roll the baguette on the table to make a sausage. Try to keep it the same thickness along the entire length. I did not fold one of the baguettes, but simply rolled up the dough and pinched the edges.
Place the first baguette on a floured baking sheet and form the second and third loaves. We spread them on a baking sheet at a distance of several centimeters from each other, just three things fit.
Cover with a towel and put in heat for half an hour. I turned on the oven at 50C to warm up, opened the door, and put a baking sheet with baguettes on top of the stove.
After a quarter of an hour (that is, 15 minutes before you put the baguettes in the oven), we make diagonal cuts on them - with a sharp knife obliquely. Cover with a towel again, and let the oven warm up to 200-220C.
Now one more nuance from another French chef, chef Laszlo Gyomrey (I did not find the transcription, so I give the name in the original). Marie shared this tip, thank you so much! Otherwise, my baguettes would have turned out invincible. 🙂
Before putting the baguettes in the oven, heat a cast-iron pan on the stove (the handle is also cast-iron so as not to melt), and put the hot pan in the oven. Then we put a baking sheet with bread. Pour a glass of cold water into the pan (carefully, steam!). And close the oven door.
And the Magic Food website advises spraying the walls of the oven with a spray bottle before putting baguettes, just keep in mind that the “pshikalka” should be food, not from under “Mr. Muscles”, but the one from which you spray houseplants. Spraying can be repeated several times during the baking process so that the crust on the bread does not dry out.
I also added water to the pan twice as it baked (toward the end of baking, at the beginning I tried to look less so that the baguettes fit well).
Bake baguettes for 30-35 minutes at 220C, until golden brown.
Hooray, here they are, our baguettes! And so that the crust on them softened a little, I covered them with a towel while still hot, having previously sprinkled the baking sheet and the bread itself with boiled water. 5-7 minutes - and the crust is soft, but crispy!
And what a lush, tender crumb!
How delicious and fragrant they are! Homemade baguettes turned out to be a hundred times tastier than store-bought bread! We barely waited for them to cool down a bit to try.
It's great to bake bread at home! And after baguettes at home, I wanted to learn something else. Maybe a different kind of baguette, or maybe a mixed grain or rye-wheat bread! Come to the fire, let's try together!
Most people think that a baguette is such an elongated bread, but this product has other features besides an oblong shape. Not only the form is important here, but also the production process. Elongated bread with a crispy crust, moist, fragrant, with an uneven crumb becomes a tasty addition to almost every snack in France - it is served even with dishes with a lot of pasta, pasta or potatoes. You can bake a baguette at home in the oven and enjoy its wonderful taste, the recipe for this baking is not at all complicated and any housewife can do it.
French Baguette - Recipe and History
Some theories say that this bun was invented by Napoleon's baker, and its oblong shape made it easier to transport. Other theories on the origin of the baguette are that it has its origins in Vienna and spread around the world during the crisis years after World War I, mainly due to the shorter production time than traditional bread. No less plausible is the version that at the beginning of the nineteenth century, many people carried a knife for cutting bread with them, which was inconvenient and dangerous. So bread was invented that was easy to carry around and didn't require a knife! A loaf was invented that did not require cutting. Skillfully made long loaf breaks into chunks that are very convenient to eat. It should also be taken into account that tactile sensations affect taste, so a crispy crust and a moist crumb promise us a delicious holiday!
French baguettes are made only from wheat flour, yeast, salt and water. Traditional products have different weights:
- French baguette in the traditional version is about 250 grams.
- Large items weighing 400 g are called flute (translated from French flute).
- Smaller products weighing 125 grams are called ficelle (which means twine, twine).
- The Parisian baguette is a larger product.
Many people love this crispy pastry, but few have tried making it themselves. We will tell you how to bake a baguette in the oven at home.
Homemade baguette recipe in the oven at home
- Recipe author: unknown, but according to one version, Napoleon's cook
- After cooking, you will receive 4 baguettes
Baguette dough in the oven - for 4 pieces:
- 550 gr wheat flour,
- 380 grams of water
- 1 teaspoon dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons of salt.
Homemade baguette in the oven - cooking procedure
If we are not using the baguettes right away, you can freshen them up by placing them in the steam oven for a few minutes.
As you can see, the French baguette recipe is not at all complicated. A little patience, a minimum of ingredients and delicious pastries from distant France will appear on your table.
Before baking, you can sprinkle the products with a little water and sprinkle with caraway seeds or sesame seeds. Fragrant loaves can be eaten warm with jam or butter. Delicious fresh homemade baguettes with garlic, they are a great addition to cream soup or other first course.
The bread baked according to this recipe is similar to the bread you can find on our website. Focaccia has the same coarse crumb structure and a similar taste.
Undoubtedly, like any other homemade bread recipe, this one requires a little attention and a little diligence. But in general, I can’t say that cooking a homemade French baguette is something prohibitively difficult. No more difficult than baking the same Italian Ciabatta bread!
I will tell and show you all the subtleties and nuances of cooking a French baguette in the oven. I am sure that everything will work out perfectly for you, and you will be 100% satisfied with the result!
Ingredients:
Cooking step by step with photos:
The French Oven Baguette recipe includes simple and affordable ingredients: wheat flour, water, salt, and instant yeast. The latter differ from just dry yeast in that they are added directly to the flour.
So, in a suitable dish, sift the wheat flour. It is better to take a larger bowl or pan, as the dough will increase greatly in volume during the fermentation process.
Add salt and instant dry yeast to the flour. We mix everything very carefully.
We knead the dough. At first it will be very sticky and resemble a heterogeneous thick porridge, but in the process of kneading it will become more elastic and smooth. It is best to knead the dough with a mixer with a hook attachment, but with your hands it will also work just as well, but longer. My mixer kneaded the dough for about 10-12 minutes. Ready-made dough for a French baguette does not stick very much to your fingers. We tighten the dishes with cling film, make punctures in it with a toothpick and leave at room temperature for 10-12 hours. It is best to make the dough in the evening so that you can bake baguettes in the morning.
Sprinkle the work surface with wheat flour and carefully dump the dough out of the bowl onto it, helping with a spatula or a scraper. I decided to make 4 baguettes, but you can make more or less.
We divide the dough into the required number of parts. We take one piece, knead it with our palms into a rectangle. Dust your fingers with flour as the dough is very soft and sticky. We fold the dough in length or twist it into a roll - as you prefer. We pinch the seams.
And now with our palms we roll the workpiece on the table to get such a tourniquet. Approximately a couple of centimeters thick. We do the same with the rest of the test.
Now our preparation for future French baguettes needs to distance, that is, rest and rise. To do this, we take a towel made of natural fabric (choose one and use it all - you don’t need to wash it every time, just shake off the excess flour). Sprinkle a towel with wheat flour and rub it into the fabric so that the dough does not stick. We lay the blanks, as in the photo. We make folds between the baguettes so that the blanks do not stick together. We cover the dough with a towel so that it does not wind up and is not covered with a crust, and leave it for 1 hour.
20 minutes before the start of baking, turn on the oven to warm up - 250 degrees. We put a bowl of water at the bottom of the oven - baguettes are baked in a water bath. The blanks are spaced and rounded.
The elongated shape has long been popular in many. Today, the baguette is widely distributed throughout the world, which is not surprising, because its golden and loose white flesh, coupled with a salty taste, does not leave anyone indifferent.
French baguette bread can be easily baked at home, as there is nothing complicated in this process. There are many recipes for making this baked product, but they all have almost the same ingredients and differ only in the way the dough is kneaded. If you want to regularly delight yourself and your loved ones with delicious bread, you can be sure that after a couple of attempts you will be able to cook a real delicious baguette with a soft core and a crispy crust.
Bread baguette: recipe
To bake this French bread, we need the following ingredients: 6 cups of flour, one tablespoon of salt, two teaspoons and two cups of warm water.
Let's start preparing the dough. Mix a quarter cup of flour with a half cup of warm water, then add the yeast and let it disperse. When foam starts to form, the dough is ready.
Mix the remaining flour with salt in a deep bowl. To do this, use an ordinary whisk or a mixer with a hook attachment. Add dissolved yeast to flour.
We continue to stir the dough, gradually adding a few tablespoons of water to it. After the dough becomes homogeneous, and there is no water left on the edges of the bowl, stop stirring and let it brew for a few minutes.
We continue to mix our dough. It is necessary that it becomes sticky and freely separated from the edges of the dishes. To do this, either add a little water or flour.
Having achieved the desired consistency, we do not stop, but knead for another 10-15 minutes (if you do it manually) and a few minutes (if you use a mixer). This is necessary in order for the necessary gluten to appear, and the ingredients to mix well.
After that, sprinkle the dough a little with flour, cover with a dry kitchen towel and leave to rise in a warm place. After the dough has tripled in size (usually takes about two hours), punch it down by hand, cover the bowl and let it rise again. When the volume doubles, crush again and leave to rise again.
So, the most difficult and long stage of dough preparation is over, and you can proceed directly to the formation of our future bread. We divide the resulting dough into several parts, roll it into a long rectangle and fold it as tightly as possible into a tube, the ends of which we pinch. We spread the loaves on a baking sheet previously greased with vegetable oil and lightly sprinkled with flour and let our bread product rise for the last time, leaving it for 40-50 minutes. Then we make notches on the loaves with a knife and send the baking sheet to the oven or bread machine preheated to 230 degrees for 10 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 170 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. Our baguette bread is ready! You can serve it on the table as soon as it cools down a bit.
Today, it's not too hard to find some favorite recipe. The French baguette is no exception. It has been prepared since time immemorial. The beauty of these loaves lies in the fact that a soft and fragrant bun is hidden under a crispy crust. The downside can be called his tendency to quickly become stale, by the end of the day. But even in this state, it remains tasty, although not the same as it was in the morning. Below we will consider the most popular recipe. The French baguette is a real example of a Parisian breakfast.
Spirit of France
Indeed, this romantic country is loved by many. And despite all the natural beauties and cultural values, French cuisine remains invariably popular. Croissants and oysters, foie gras and amazing buns, as well as a thin and long loaf, biting which makes you want to ask for the recipe. A French baguette is a consistently firm, crispy and simply amazing crust with a fresh crumb. Despite the fact that it is cooked all over the world today, it always remains a symbol of France.
The story of an amazing bun
It first appeared on the shelves in the 20s of the last century. In fact, this was not a tribute to traditions; the bakers did not implement a special, exquisite recipe either. The French baguette was just a necessity pushed by special circumstances. When the government issued a special decree not allowing to go to work before 4 in the morning, they had to look for an option that would require less time for dough and pastries to germinate than ordinary loaves.
It is a long and thin pastry. The standard size that was originally proposed is 60, 70 cm long, 5-6 cm wide and 3-4 cm high. At the same time, the product weighs only 250 g. By the way, with the advent of this roll on the shelves, the process of mass dismissal of bakers began . Since the baking process was accelerated, so many workers were no longer required, which also reduced the costs of bakeries.
Baking Features
How do you know that this is a French baguette in front of you? The recipe involves the release of a very capricious roll, it is not cut with a knife when fresh, so it is customary to break it with your hands. After 8 hours, it becomes completely stale, so it is better to take such pastries based on one or two meals. In France, such pastries are made as diverse as possible to please the majority of buyers. It can be found in a variety of lengths and shapes, from very thin to wide, sandwich rolls. The degree of roasting is from very pale to slightly burnt. In addition, various additives are used. It can be onions, garlic, sesame seeds, cumin, cheese, aromatic herbs.
Meet the French baguette recipe
In the capital of France alone, up to a million crispy loaves are sold every morning. The finished product weighs 250 g (remember, for comparison, the Soviet loaf, weighing 1 kg). Prepare it, in general, in the classical way. First, the dough is laid, for this, as all housewives know, you need to dissolve the yeast in water, add flour and leave for 20 minutes. Then you need to add salt, the rest of the water and flour, knead the dough. This is an important point, you need to knead for a long time, about 10 minutes. Then the structure will become homogeneous. It remains in proofing for 45 minutes, after which you need to cut it into products. They are covered with a damp cloth and left for another 45 minutes. After that, they are placed in the oven for 15-20 minutes. As you can see, nothing complicated, every housewife can do it, even without experience in culinary arts.
Cook at home
A bakery is one thing, and making something like this at home is very interesting. Imagine how in the morning you get a warm, French baguette for breakfast. The recipe in the oven of the baked product is no different from the original, which is designed for production ovens. As you have already noticed, such baking has many advantages. The dough is simple in execution, requires a minimum of ingredients, they are all simple and affordable. In addition, there is no need for special ovens, food processors and other devices. Quick baking can be a good option for your morning breakfast. Proofing will take place in the refrigerator. There is a minus, the dough is wet and sticky. It's not very comfortable and you need to get used to handling it.
Let's bake a French baguette. The recipe in the oven involves a two-day cooking cycle, although you can do the entire procedure in one day. This can be convenient for those who will cook the dough every day for the next day, and get up in the morning and cook a bun for breakfast. You need to take 500 g of flour of the 1st grade, 375 g of water, ¼ teaspoon of dry yeast and 10 g of salt. As usual, you dilute the yeast, add everything else and knead the mass. Cover with foil and leave for 20 minutes. Using a mixer, knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Now the dough needs to be greased with oil, covered with a film and put in the refrigerator. And you can go about your business.
The second cycle starts the next day. In the morning you take out the dough, divide it into three parts. The dough is very sticky, but try not to fill it with flour. You can oil your hands. Each part must be kneaded into a layer and rolled into a roll, immediately shifted to a baking sheet. This will be the final form of our baking. Your French baguette will stay like this (recipe with photo will help you get oriented with the shape), they don't rise very much, so you don't have to leave much space on the baking sheet between the loaves. After 45 minutes (cover with foil) you can put them in the oven. Temperature 250 degrees, bake for about 20 minutes.
Features of cooking in a bread machine
The recipe for a French baguette for a bread machine is slightly different from the classics, in particular, it greatly reduces the time the hostess is busy. Each model may have its own differences, but we will give a standard recipe. You will need to stir 2 teaspoons of yeast in a glass of warm water. Add a tablespoon of sugar and leave for 15 minutes. Now next in line are 2 tablespoons of butter, 370 g of flour. Knead the dough, divide into 2 parts, roll into layers and roll into rolls. Now you can send them to the bread machine for 60 minutes in the “Baking” mode.
Most adherents of this bakery product live in Germany and France. It is very interesting how the table setting is done. An authentic French baguette (recipe may contain flavors) served with butter and a large cup of coffee. It is absorbed in a very original way: after breaking off a crispy bun and spreading it with butter, you need to quickly lower it into coffee. The butter does not have time to melt, and the crumb is saturated with coffee. It turns out a delightful composition, from which you get real pleasure.
Summing up
It is not necessary to go to France to taste a wonderful baguette. You can make it easier for yourself and buy it in the store, but usually we do not follow the classic recipe. Therefore, in order to appreciate the real "crunch of French rolls", it is worth trying to bake it at home. It's easy and doesn't take too much time. The overwhelming smell from your kitchen will beckon guests all day long. By adapting to the time it takes to prepare this baguette, you can wake up your loved ones every morning with the smell of fresh bread. And even though hot bread is harmful to our figure, it is better to go to the gym in the evening than to deprive yourself of such pleasure. By the way, experts note that baking in a bread machine somewhat changes the taste of a baguette. Therefore, it is better to spend a little more time, but serve a real miracle on the table.
Loading...
