Yesterday I made two French Baguettes from a recipe in a Le Cordon
Bleu cookbook I have.

I have no idea how authentic it is, though my son has been making the
same recipe for several weeks and reckons it's pretty much how they
tasted in the month he spent in France. However, he tells me my
baguettes are too fat.

They were about 12 inches long, but it was hard to stretch the very
elastic dough to shape them. When I read the recipe I thought it
wouldn't work. It is just flour, yeast, water and salt, a very dry
mixture. But it worked and it tasted great. I compared it with recipes
on the Internet and that's all French baguettes seem to be -- no fat
of any kind.

Here's a pic of my finished bread. We had it with mussels, moules
mariniere.

http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg

"Kathy in NZ" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
> Yesterday I made two French Baguettes from a recipe in a Le Cordon
> Bleu cookbook I have.
>
> I have no idea how authentic it is, though my son has been making the
> same recipe for several weeks and reckons it's pretty much how they
> tasted in the month he spent in France. However, he tells me my
> baguettes are too fat.
>
> They were about 12 inches long, but it was hard to stretch the very
> elastic dough to shape them. When I read the recipe I thought it
> wouldn't work. It is just flour, yeast, water and salt, a very dry
> mixture. But it worked and it tasted great. I compared it with recipes
> on the Internet and that's all French baguettes seem to be -- no fat
> of any kind.
>
> Here's a pic of my finished bread. We had it with mussels, moules
> mariniere.
>
> http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg

It looks very nice! French baguettes have a longer shape. But doesn't
matter! The important is inside, IMHO!
Cheers
Pandora

Kathy in NZ wrote:
> Yesterday I made two French Baguettes from a recipe in a Le Cordon
> Bleu cookbook I have.
>
> I have no idea how authentic it is, though my son has been making the
> same recipe for several weeks and reckons it's pretty much how they
> tasted in the month he spent in France. However, he tells me my
> baguettes are too fat.
>
> They were about 12 inches long, but it was hard to stretch the very
> elastic dough to shape them. When I read the recipe I thought it
> wouldn't work. It is just flour, yeast, water and salt, a very dry
> mixture. But it worked and it tasted great. I compared it with recipes
> on the Internet and that's all French baguettes seem to be -- no fat
> of any kind.
>
> Here's a pic of my finished bread. We had it with mussels, moules
> mariniere.
>
> http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg

Your son's right and your breads look great but they are not baguettes.
They are French breads, just a little wider & a tad softer than a
baguette?
A French bread is a wide or "fat" baguette. This is how I have seen
them called in American supermarkets. At least in the Acme/Albertson
last week.
You seem surprised that fats are not needed. I have seen just flour and
water work.
This was with whole wheat matzoh. And the extreme of this was flour and
water to make seitan, which is not even cooked. This is a meat ersatz
or substitute product. That really surprised me in a pleasant way.

> ha scritto nel messaggio
oups.com...
> Kathy in NZ wrote:
>> Yesterday I made two French Baguettes from a recipe in a Le Cordon
>> Bleu cookbook I have.
>>
>> I have no idea how authentic it is, though my son has been making the
>> same recipe for several weeks and reckons it's pretty much how they
>> tasted in the month he spent in France. However, he tells me my
>> baguettes are too fat.
>>
>> They were about 12 inches long, but it was hard to stretch the very
>> elastic dough to shape them. When I read the recipe I thought it
>> wouldn't work. It is just flour, yeast, water and salt, a very dry
>> mixture. But it worked and it tasted great. I compared it with recipes
>> on the Internet and that's all French baguettes seem to be -- no fat
>> of any kind.
>>
>> Here's a pic of my finished bread. We had it with mussels, moules
>> mariniere.
>>
>> http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg
>
> Your son's right and your breads look great but they are not baguettes.
> They are French breads, just a little wider & a tad softer than a
> baguette?
> A French bread is a wide or "fat" baguette. This is how I have seen
> them called in American supermarkets. At least in the Acme/Albertson
> last week.
> You seem surprised that fats are not needed. I have seen just flour and
> water work.
> This was with whole wheat matzoh. And the extreme of this was flour and
> water to make seitan, which is not even cooked. This is a meat ersatz
> or substitute product. That really surprised me in a pleasant way.

Yes! I know that there is no fat in a french baguette!
Hey Cathy! Post the ingredients, please: I want to see if they are the same
of the ingredients we use in Italy.
Cheers
Pandora
>

On Mon 23 Jan 2006 12:50:48a, Thus Spake Zarathustra, or was it Kathy in
NZ?

> Yesterday I made two French Baguettes from a recipe in a Le Cordon
> Bleu cookbook I have.
>
> I have no idea how authentic it is, though my son has been making the
> same recipe for several weeks and reckons it's pretty much how they
> tasted in the month he spent in France. However, he tells me my
> baguettes are too fat.
>
> They were about 12 inches long, but it was hard to stretch the very
> elastic dough to shape them. When I read the recipe I thought it
> wouldn't work. It is just flour, yeast, water and salt, a very dry
> mixture. But it worked and it tasted great. I compared it with recipes
> on the Internet and that's all French baguettes seem to be -- no fat
> of any kind.
>
> Here's a pic of my finished bread. We had it with mussels, moules
> mariniere.
>
> http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg

They look delicious, Kathy, about the way mine turn out, although
occasionally I will make a true baguette. I would just call them French
loaves. Baguettes are *very* narrow and *very* long. Some even narrower
and longer than in this picture.

http://tinyurl.com/cnzg6

I wouldn't worry about it. It's the taste that counts!


--
Wayne Boatwright Õ¿Õ¬
________________________________________

Okay, okay, I take it back! UnScrew you!

"Kathy in NZ" > wrote in message
...
> Yesterday I made two French Baguettes from a recipe in a Le Cordon
> Bleu cookbook I have.
>
> I have no idea how authentic it is, though my son has been making the
> same recipe for several weeks and reckons it's pretty much how they
> tasted in the month he spent in France. However, he tells me my
> baguettes are too fat.
>
> They were about 12 inches long, but it was hard to stretch the very
> elastic dough to shape them. When I read the recipe I thought it
> wouldn't work. It is just flour, yeast, water and salt, a very dry
> mixture. But it worked and it tasted great. I compared it with recipes
> on the Internet and that's all French baguettes seem to be -- no fat
> of any kind.
>
> Here's a pic of my finished bread. We had it with mussels, moules
> mariniere.
>
> http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg

Looks great, just call it a batard instead of a baguette!


--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

Peter Aitken wrote:
> Looks great, just call it a batard instead of a baguette!
> Peter Aitken

What a pun. Is it a batard? That also means ******* in French beside
the name of a loaf of bread. So it's a ******* baguette, in a way? Or a
retard batard?

No offense meant. Just trying to be amusante on this word play.

Kathy in NZ wrote:
>> Yesterday I made two French Baguettes from a recipe in a Le Cordon
>> Bleu cookbook I have.
>>
>> I have no idea how authentic it is, though my son has been making the
>> same recipe for several weeks and reckons it's pretty much how they
>> tasted in the month he spent in France. However, he tells me my
>> baguettes are too fat.
>>
>> They were about 12 inches long, but it was hard to stretch the very
>> elastic dough to shape them. When I read the recipe I thought it
>> wouldn't work. It is just flour, yeast, water and salt, a very dry
>> mixture. But it worked and it tasted great. I compared it with
>> recipes on the Internet and that's all French baguettes seem to be
>> -- no fat of any kind.
>>
>> Here's a pic of my finished bread. We had it with mussels, moules
>> mariniere.
>>
>> http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg

When shaping, let them sit for a couple of minutes to relax the glutena and
stretch some more. You will have a better result with getting the length
you want.

Debbie

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 10:24:15 -0500, "Debbie" >
wrote:

>Kathy in NZ wrote:
>>> Yesterday I made two French Baguettes from a recipe in a Le Cordon
>>> Bleu cookbook I have.
>>>
>>> I have no idea how authentic it is, though my son has been making the
>>> same recipe for several weeks and reckons it's pretty much how they
>>> tasted in the month he spent in France. However, he tells me my
>>> baguettes are too fat.
>>>
>>> They were about 12 inches long, but it was hard to stretch the very
>>> elastic dough to shape them. When I read the recipe I thought it
>>> wouldn't work. It is just flour, yeast, water and salt, a very dry
>>> mixture. But it worked and it tasted great. I compared it with
>>> recipes on the Internet and that's all French baguettes seem to be
>>> -- no fat of any kind.
>>>
>>> Here's a pic of my finished bread. We had it with mussels, moules
>>> mariniere.
>>>
>>> http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg
>
>When shaping, let them sit for a couple of minutes to relax the glutena and
>stretch some more. You will have a better result with getting the length
>you want.
>
>Debbie


Thanks for the responses. I realise my baguettes were too fat. It was
hard to stretch them.

And for Pandora, here's the recipe. The recipe says it makes 4 loaves.
My son makes 6 loaves from it, shorter loaves and thinner than my
ones.

I made a half recipe, of two loaves. Next time I'll do a half recipe
of three loaves, demi baguettes.

Here's the full recipe of ingredients, without instructions:

French baguettes
Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Edition
makes four 3/4 lb loaves

1oz fresh yeast or 1 tbsp dried yeat
5 cups bread flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp salt
2 1/2 cups water

I used my bread machine to mix the dough, then did the rest by hand. I
am keen to try another batch next weekend, to perfect them.

Kathy in NZ

Kathy in NZ wrote:
> [snip]
> I used my bread machine to mix the dough, then did the rest by hand. I
> am keen to try another batch next weekend, to perfect them.
>
Careful, trying to perfect French bread can become an obsession. ;-)
Julia Child went through all sorts of tips and tricks trying to get the
perfect combination of crustiness and airy interior. Does your
recipe/procedure talk about misting or putting a pan of water in the
oven?

Incidentally, when I was making bread I discovered that it often went
stale faster than we could eat it. Learned an important lesson from
that, namely, that (after making bread crumbs until you have more than
enough in the freezer) it is OKAY to throw out the stale stuff and make
a new loaf. -aem

On 25 Jan 2006 10:11:33 -0800, "aem" > wrote:

>Kathy in NZ wrote:
>> [snip]
>> I used my bread machine to mix the dough, then did the rest by hand. I
>> am keen to try another batch next weekend, to perfect them.
>>
>Careful, trying to perfect French bread can become an obsession. ;-)
>Julia Child went through all sorts of tips and tricks trying to get the
>perfect combination of crustiness and airy interior. Does your
>recipe/procedure talk about misting or putting a pan of water in the
>oven?
>
>Incidentally, when I was making bread I discovered that it often went
>stale faster than we could eat it. Learned an important lesson from
>that, namely, that (after making bread crumbs until you have more than
>enough in the freezer) it is OKAY to throw out the stale stuff and make
>a new loaf. -aem


When I bake, I am liable to make 5-6 loaves at a time and I freeze
what we are not going to use immediately. Bread freezes wonderfully.

If you find that you are tossing out stale bread, scale down the sizes
of your loaves when you bake, so that you get, perhaps, 3 loaves from
a 2-loaf recipe, then freeze the rest..


To re-heat, wet your hands and rub them over the loaf. Wrap in foil
and set in a 325 oven. After about 15 minutes, remove the foil to
crisp the crust. The times will vary by size of loaf, obviously.

Another interesting thing I have discovered about home made bread,
that after the 2nd day, when it is past fresh, toss the rest into the
fridge (OH, I know - a sacrilege!) and use it for toast within the
next few days. Home made bread a week old made into toast is still
better than any store-bought bread used that way.


Another option is to experiment with sourdough. Sourdough breads stay
fresher longer.

Boron

Boron Elgar wrote:
>
> .... Bread freezes wonderfully. ..., scale down the sizes
> of your loaves when you bake, .... when it is past fresh, toss the rest into the
> fridge (OH, I know - a sacrilege!) and use it for toast within the
> next few days. Home made bread a week old made into toast is still
> better than any store-bought bread used that way. ....
>
All of that is true, I agree. I was thinking back to how hard it was
to learn that what I was imbued with about frugality and saving as I
was growing up didn't have to rule my life when my fortunes improved.
Some of my friends who grew up with limited means and now are quite
well off still cannot bring themselves to reward themselves with better
things. Throwing away the stale remnants of a loaf of bread and making
a fresh loaf had some symbolic worth to me. -aem

"Boron Elgar" > ha scritto nel messaggio
...
[CUT]
Is sourdough the thing I call "natural yeast"?
pandora

On 25 Jan 2006 10:11:33 -0800, "aem" > wrote:

>Kathy in NZ wrote:
>> [snip]
>> I used my bread machine to mix the dough, then did the rest by hand. I
>> am keen to try another batch next weekend, to perfect them.
>>
>Careful, trying to perfect French bread can become an obsession. ;-)
>Julia Child went through all sorts of tips and tricks trying to get the
>perfect combination of crustiness and airy interior. Does your
>recipe/procedure talk about misting or putting a pan of water in the
>oven?
>
>Incidentally, when I was making bread I discovered that it often went
>stale faster than we could eat it. Learned an important lesson from
>that, namely, that (after making bread crumbs until you have more than
>enough in the freezer) it is OKAY to throw out the stale stuff and make
>a new loaf. -aem
>
Yes to misting. I was supposed to spray the loaves with a fine mist of
water before cooking. I had nothing to spray them with, so flicked
water lightly over then and also put a pan of water in the oven.

On Thu, 26 Jan 2006 06:41:56 GMT, (Kathy in NZ) wrote:

>On 25 Jan 2006 10:11:33 -0800, "aem" > wrote:
>
>>Kathy in NZ wrote:
>>> [snip]
>>> I used my bread machine to mix the dough, then did the rest by hand. I
>>> am keen to try another batch next weekend, to perfect them.
>>>
>>Careful, trying to perfect French bread can become an obsession. ;-)
>>Julia Child went through all sorts of tips and tricks trying to get the
>>perfect combination of crustiness and airy interior. Does your
>>recipe/procedure talk about misting or putting a pan of water in the
>>oven?
>>
>>Incidentally, when I was making bread I discovered that it often went
>>stale faster than we could eat it. Learned an important lesson from
>>that, namely, that (after making bread crumbs until you have more than
>>enough in the freezer) it is OKAY to throw out the stale stuff and make
>>a new loaf. -aem
>>
>Yes to misting. I was supposed to spray the loaves with a fine mist of
>water before cooking. I had nothing to spray them with, so flicked
>water lightly over then and also put a pan of water in the oven.

Hi Kathy - we have an authentic boulangerie in our suburb in Auckland.
The owner/proprietors (French) imported the ovens from France because
they said they couldn't get them here. The baguettes at this place
are authentic - believe me! And this place makes the best brioche I
have had outside France. They make to order - and it IS expensive -
but so so yummy. I like to order from them on the phone to keep up
my French! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Cheers

Daisy

Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!

On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 07:50:48 GMT, (Kathy in NZ) wrote:

>http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg

Oh, man. Those look *great*.

I'm buying yeast today. Yeast waffles, French bread, you name it, it's
mine. :-)

serene