Bread Baker 39;s Apprentice Pdf
Alacoque Whitchurch
well, they look pretty even if they aren't quite what you were hoping for, and after all that straining through a little tea strainer!! Since they look better than they taste maybe you should varnish them and use them as decoration during buffets and potlucks :)
Marie,
The baguettes look so professional! I really thought you would be singing the praises of this bread and especially since it came from Peter Reinhart. I have the same strainer and now I know what not to use it for.
Evil Cake Lady's comment about varnishing them cracked me up, no wonder I love this blog!
Marie - I've been making the basic Hearth Bread from Bread Bible and the Raisin Pecan Bread. They're so good! I do need to branch out and try other recipes, want to try the Ciabatta (though this require more time preparation - sponge needs to be made 6 hours to 3 days ahead).
Cathy,
I am not, although I've read about it. I've got all I can handle with the cake challenge (www.heavenlycakeplace.blogspot.com), but I'll certainly be baking more of the BBA breads.
ECL,
I love the idea of shellacking them for posterity--or just for decoration--but they were certainly worth eating. I've got one loaf left, in the freezer, and I think it will be eaten, although it is about the prettiest looking bread I've ever made.
Oriana,
That's why I love it too!
Jenn,
A friend of mine got The Bread Bible on my recommendation and she makes the basic heart bread once a week, but she likes it so much she's never been able to get beyond that one recipe. I like to try new things, but there's a lot to be said for finding a great recipe and sticking with it.
Marie - it all depends on what one likes and what makes one happy. I think it's very awesome when people take time to cook/bake (can you tell I don't have many cooks/bakers in my circle of life? :)) I have been making the basic boule (from "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day") for a year - never dared to try another bread recipe. Until stumbling upon your bread blog here (and with your encouragement), I got the Bread Bible and now am more courageous to try new bread recipes. Now I do believe that bread making is easier than cake baking. I'd much rather bake bread than decorating a cake!
I think your baguettes look excellent. Are you sure you aren't being too modest about them tasting fabulous too?
Have you had your cookie baking frenzy yet? I always enjoy seeing what you decided to make.
While I am here I will wish you a Merry Christmas and wonderful things for you in 2010. Cheers to you, friend! (and to tiny Jim, too!)
Melinda,
I'm really not being too modest--they tasted good, but not fabulous. We did our cookie-baking frenzy on Friday. It was such a frenzy that I didn't even take pictures, but I made cardamom-orange sugar cookies and Polish apricot cookies; Cathy made chocolate-mint and something called Melting Moments; Joanne did raspberry-almond bars and a chocolate-apricot shortbread. We used to do three cookies apiece, but we're down to two each. We're slowing down.
Merry Christmas to you too. Tiny Jim may be a little huffy about his new nickname, but he will join me in sending you best wishes.
ב''ה
I've been baking through Bread Bakers Apprentice.
I also thought these were not as tasty as the regular french baguettes in BBA. However, the Pain l'ancienne really really is the most tasty and also the easiest to make (I've made it a number of times now.)
I found that the 'clear flour' aproximation sifts differently depending on the quality of whole wheat flour you are using. The bad quality whole-wheat flour is almost all bran. Even though the clear flour approximation did not seem to make such a difference with the poolish baguettes they did seem to make a difference with when making rye bread. The rye bread seems just a bit richer and more flavorful as well as softer (not sure how that works...)
I am very impressed at your cuts, mine always look sort of weird. I can never seem to get that slicing motion or something. I have mostly converted to the scissor now even though it must not work as well...
I also miss much bread baking because of the Heavenly-Cake Bake. However, it is a worthy cause and a good push to make some cakes that are a bit daunting.
Here are my poolish baguettes:
-poolish-baguettes-i-approximated.html
And my clear flour approximation:
-is-clear-flour-approximation.html
french baguettes:
-first-baguette-attempt.html
Pain l'ancienne:
-bakers-apprentice-pain-lancienne.html
I recently bought the BBA, 15th anniversary edition. The Poolish Baguette was to be my first bread (perhaps a bit ambitious?)
I made the poolish two days which turned out nicely. Consistency of a thick batter and it rose very nicely as expected.
Today I started the baguette and everything turned to $#@& !
I used the recipe on page 223 and took great care to measure the quantities in grams. But the dough turned out to be more like a sticky paste and just ran out on the kitchen counter. I had to add almost the same amount of bread flour as what the recipe calls for initially to get something like a ball of dough that doesn't stubbornly stick to my fingers.
Has anyone else encountered these massive problems with this recipe? I expected to maybe sprinkle a bit of extra flour onto the dough to assist with kneading but not to double the quantity of flour.