Tips and Crusts - in blog format
This is a revised version of something that I put out on the general forum back in June. Back before I had created any blog entries of my own. I had asked Floyd if he could move that entry over to the blogs section, but he indicated that the effort was not trivial, and well, he does have a day job.
So here it is again, now under my own blog, with a few minor tweaks and some additions. Back in June I was documenting some of the tips and crust photos (Gee, so that's where the blog title comes from. Who'da thunk it?), but they were displayed as a random selection. Well, here I have reorganized them into a bit more cohesive groupings, based on baguette type and finally the groups of undocumented bags under the heading of whachamacallits.
It's kinda long, but a good representation of the types of breads that I've been concentrating on for the year and change that I've baking. And just for the heck of it, at the tail end I threw in a few pics of ciabatta that I baked a year ago.
Bouabsa (back where it all began for me, and still one of my two go-to baguettes):
Liquid Levain (Mr. David Snyder's pre SJSD version):
SJSD (my other go-to baguette):
Gosselin Baguettes a l'Ancienne:
SJSD Gosselin:
Poolish Baguette:
36 Hour TXFarmer Baguette:
The Undocumented Whatchamacallits:
Ciabatta and ciabatta "skin art":
Comments
Beautiful crust landscapes. Are you framing any of these?
The last one in particular is so fantastic, ciabatta and photo, should consider having a wall mural made.
Hi Mini,
I got hooked, so early on, on baguettes, and mostly abandoned ciabatta bakes once I sort of had them down and started to concentrate almost exclusively on baguettes. As I'd mentioned elsewhere - practice makes near-perfect so I should have baguettes down sometime before 2050 if I'm lucky! But last year's visit from my brother and his wife prompted me to do that bake. Sandra is a really good amateur artist and ceramist, and she loves to snap photos of nature and human's patterns of all types, such as these final three pictures.
And it is funny that you say that since I have thought of printing and framing a few. Maybe you just pushed me over the edge on that thought. I'm not taking down any of my original Picassos or Rembrandts though ;-)
alan
There are worse things to be hooked on :-) They all look so well crafted inside and out.
Happy baking
Just getting started on my journey, but I totally understand the obsession. Looks like you were bitten hard! Thanks for posting all of these, it was inspirational for my bake today. Which is your second go-to recipe?
Cheers,
-Gabe
Hi Gabe,
Less an obsession than a focus on getting that one form down as well as I am able to. I've seen in print a number of times that the baguette shaping and scoring is amongst the hardest to do well. I decided that it is a good sandbox for me to play in. I can go weeks, as exhibited this past summer away, when I don't even think about getting the next bake in, but when I'm home I target three bakes per week. Not losing sleep over this hobby.
Anyway, my two go-to styles are the Bouabsa and the SJSD baguettes. As much out of ease and familiarity as well as taste. However in reviewing the pictures, it seems that my consistently best results are from the SJSD Gosselin baguettes, which are a bit sticky and take three days including the first overnight autolyse, but come out really beautiful and are also quite tasty.
Good luck. I made earlier note to you about the early skill at baguettes that you have already developed.
alan