I was entrusted with the delivery of baguettes to a party of some friends, who without my assistance would be doomed to consuming second-rate whitebread from one of the local commercial bakers… dry, tough, and without character, and their bread is even worse.
OK, I’m exaggerating, but I did it for your sake. That’s just the sort of guy I am.
There are actually a number of great bakers (and bakeries) in the area, and only two or three that ought to be ashamed of themselves. Regardless, I planned to make my own baguettes, as it’s good exercise for when this whole dot-com thing finally dries up and blows away and I decide to make an honest living for a change.
Dough shaping is the second-hardest aspect of baking, and baguettes are perhaps the most difficult shape to master. I can say this with authority, for I have not achieved mastery. Simply rolling out dough into a long baguettelike cylinder is easy, but completely inadequate; the trick is to do so without squeezing all the air of out the dough. To be correct, the cylinder must be even in circumference for its entire length, with slight tapers at the ends. And none of this makes any difference if there is insufficient surface tension in the outer skin, for a failure in this respect results in sad, flat baguette-cakes.
Letting the dough rest at various points in this process is crucial, so the gluten does not resist the shaping effort. Of course, letting the dough rest for too long is a problem. The magic comes in finding the balance: tension without deflation, gluten development without breakdown, fermentation without yeast suicide. Hydration, temperature, timing… grasp these, and you’ll impress your friends. Master them, and you’ll rule the world. Or, at least, you’ll really impress your friends.
So I’ve been yammering on and you’re dying to know how my baguettes turned out. I think the easiest way to answer this question is for you to come by and pick one up. Really, I made that many. Quickly, now, before they get stale.
I used two recipes, and determined that the “ACME Baguette” recipe from Artisan Baking is superior. These loaves had excellent coloration, great oven spring, a nice crust, and would have had a perfect crumb if I hadn’t run out of time before the party. Still, people raved. We ate a lot of bread today.