First ever baguette using Anis' recipe - Thanks Mark!
I have this thing about everything being perfect that I've been trying my whole life to just get over. Well, I'm finding baking bread is helping in ways I never imagined.
This is my first ever attempt at baguettes. Mark at The Back Home Bakery suggested I use Anis' recipe for baguettes (if my ciabatta I was making on the weekend didn't turn out - it did.) I decided today I'd use the recipe but make baguettes. I was getting confused looking at all the videos out there on kneading, folding, shaping, etc. I finally decided to use the French fold that I saw on the Gourmet website as I wanted to see what it felt like. I started making the dough yesterday and the folding was interesting. It was very cool how the dough finally (just a tad longer than on the video - ha) came together. Not as smooth and silky but I didn't want to overknead. Put the dough in the fridge and counted down the hours until about 3pm today.
Here's where the perfectionism comes in. I didn't think it had risen enough but went ahead shaping. I decided to go with the shaping technique I first saw in one of Mark's videos but, again, concerned I'm not shaping tight enough, too tight or just plain wrong. Let them proof and then managed to roll them out into a baguette shape. Put them in the oven and when I took them out I thought... boy, one's too brown and one is too light on the sides. I put them on a rack to cool and just walked away for awhile. Came back and cut a slice to see not a bad crumb. Took a bite and decided right then and there that it's not about being perfect. It's about the satisfaction of baking bread from scratch, experimenting and trying new things.
It's been an epiphany and it feels good.
Cheers,
Janet