Baguettes for breakfast

I recently got Peter Reinhart's Crust and Crumb and as always have thoroughly enjoyed reading his relaxed and expert advice on baking all types of bread.

My wife loves good bread and jam for breakfast so I thought I would make some baguettes using the French Bread master formula from the book that we could have for breakfast a few days ago.

It was the first time I had cold retarded dough and won't be looking back. In terms of the quality of the crumb and the chewy crunchiness of the crust these are definitely my best baguettes so far.

I also found the rhythm of making the dough to be really satisfying. Allowing it to develop slowly using a small amount of yeast over the course of the evening and then retarding in the fridge overnight so they can be made fresh in the morning was a great way to start the weekend. Similar to the slow paced aspects of making sourdoughs I find so relaxing (more on that later).

The pictures I will be posting are a work in progress so please be patient while I get to grips with food photography.

As you can see in the picture the long slow fermentation really helps get that open interior.

My wife and I both fell in love with the crust even though we are pretty much opposites in this regard, she likes softer crusts and I prefer crunch. The crust on these baguettes had an initial satisfying crunch but then became chewy and gorgeous.

The taste was excellent, deep and smooth. All in all, when combined with a big mug of good coffee, we had a great breakfast.

There was also a firm sourdough starter waiting in the kitchen for me to make up some dough for baking a loaf the next day. More soon