The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Baguette

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Baguette

I saw a picture in Aime Pouly's Le Pain of a twisted baguette, which reminds me of the Japanese sourdough "wave" loaf that I made. I thought James MacGuire's formula would be great for me to try Pouly's baguette fashion. I incorporated the following additions:

  • French starter, which I got from Teresa's Northwest Sourdough website.
  • Chinese (to be exact, Cantonese) style of sausage for one of the three baguettes (below). Canton is the south-eastern province of China where Hong Kong used to be a part of until the latter's cession to Britain for 99 years to 1997. The dialect spoken in Canton Province is Cantonese, which is also the dialect in Hong Kong, naturally, as well as many overseas Chinese whose ancestors were from Canton.
  • I reduced the instant dry yeast by half to 1/3 teaspoon (ie, 1 gram).

Here are the pictures of my three baguettes.

 

   

 

              

 

I have never gotten such a creamy crumb before. The flour I used is Laucke's Wallaby Unbleached Bakers Flour (protein 11.9%). They are a South Australia based company. During our kids' school holiday last year, we went very close to the heart of the base of German and Italian immigrants in Australia where Laucke is located. We ate at the famous Stefano de Pieri's restaurant in South Australia.

 

    

 

   

                                             

 

By now you probably know that I mostly eat my baguette with my eyes.  This is my supper.

 

                                 

 

Shiao-Ping

Comments

Dragonbones's picture
Dragonbones

Shiao-Ping, those are lovely!  You're an artist!

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

how many stray kittens do you currently have, might I ask?  Do Dragonbabe look after them for you?

Thank you.

shiao-ping

Dragonbones's picture
Dragonbones

LOL We have three adult cats which we adopted as stray kittens, and one stray kitten which we haven't been able to place out, but I don't think we'll be able to part with the adorable little feller. We recently gave two kittens (his siblings) to someone else to temporarily foster, and they're available for adoption if you have any friends in Taibei wanting a kitten. They're beautiful black kittens.

In the past four years, have rescued twenty seven other kittens and cats, and one dog. We both take turns looking after them, since we both work multiple PT jobs. We also support an animal rescue organization here in Taibei called Animals Taiwan. In fact, right after we first met, we both joined Animals Taiwan and regularly baked doggie biscuits and people biscuits in a local cafe's kitchen to raise money to support the group. So I married a fellow baker, in a way!

BTW, those are great shots! What camera and lens are you using? We were thinking of upgrading next year.

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

The camera I use is the simplest Olympus 1030 SW, 5.0-18.2mm.  I bought it at Guan-hua market at Ba-der Road. 

Wow, 30 kittens/cats and one dog!  I admire you.   

Shiao-Ping

p.s.  not very good at guessing English abbreviations.

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Shiao-Ping,

LOL = laughing out loud

BTW = by the way

PT = part-time (in this context; in other contexts it might refer to physical training)

Others you've probably seen here include

IMHO = in my humble opinion

FWIW = for what it's worth

YMMV = your mileage may vary (originally from automobile manufacturers touting their vehicles' fuel efficiency, measured as miles per gallon (MPG) in the States.)

ROTFL = rolling on the floor laughing

BBA = Bread Baker's Apprentice (title of a book by Peter Reinhart)

WGB = Whole Grain Breads (another Reinhart book)

KA = King Arthur (a flour manufacturer and its products) or KitchenAid (a brand of kitchen tools, mixers and the like)

RLB = Rose Levy Berenbaum, a cookbook author

WW = whole wheat (as in flour)

WWW = white whole wheat

AP = all purpose flour

VWG = vital wheat gluten

HG or HGF = high-gluten flour

SD = sourdough

LAB = lactobacillus

There are probably others that aren't occurring to me just now but I hope this helps clarify some of the terms.

Paul

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Paul,

I love the ROTFL the best. 

By the way, you missed TADA!

Thanks.

Shiao-Ping

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Very nice presentation Shiao-Ping. I am curious how the surface appears as if twisted? The flour lines are at an angle across the crust but I can't see any indication of twisting as in the wave breads. Quite unique.

Eric

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

No cuts.  I twisted the dough before proofing (ie, twisting the dough for its shaping)

Shiao-Ping

Paddyscake's picture
Paddyscake

what can I say, you take your bread way beyond our expectations everytime. Always something new.

Betty

DonD's picture
DonD

That is a very creative way to shape baguettes Shiao-Ping. The crumb looks fantastic. Did you use Lop Cheung to stuff your baguette?

Don

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

I guess "Lop Cheung" in Cantonese would be "La Chang" in Mandarin.  So, the answer is yes.

Shiao-Ping

Dragonbones's picture
Dragonbones

Sorry for confusing you, Shiao-Ping. PMcCool gave a lot of good ones there. Here's another common one: AFAIK (as far as I know). This and the above get used a lot in internet chat rooms, but you probaby shouldn't write them in more formal communications.

Twisted baguettes, huh? Interesting!  This forum sure does attract a lot of creative people.