Gameday Baking

Kate made olive parmesan bread on Sunday morning.  It was a first try making it and it turned out very good.  She thawed the frozen white bread dough in the fridge overnight, then let it rise a bit more before cutting it into pieces, then mixing it with various sliced olives, shredded parmesan cheese and olive oil.  I suggested the square baking dish but next time I think she'll try it on a tray with parchment paper.

When I told my Mom some time ago that we were getting these loaves of frozen bread dough she reminded me of when I was young she'd make cinnamon rolls out of it.  I'm sure they were yummy so we may try that in the future.

Once Kate was done in the kitchen I began making baguette.  It was a couple hours before the Packer game at noon so I knew it would overlap but I can still hear the television from the kitchen.  And I often text with my Mom during the games so I texted her pics and kept her up with the process.  So, since I already have the pictures, I'll put that baguette process after the break with some narrative on the changes I made to my technique. 

So far I had normally been following the King Arthur Classic Baguette recipe pretty closely.  But toward the end of that page they have a link to a video, also from King Arthur - video here.  The recipe calls for oil when rising initially so I had continued that on the work surface instead of flour until the shaping stage, and I now use flour instead starting at the point of dividing the dough after the initial rises.  I do have to remember to spray the film before covering to let them rest, however.

The recipe calls to divide the dough and form into balls before letting them rest but I started following the video and forming them into a pre-shape.  Here, thinking ahead, I divided it into 2 pre-shapes of 300 grams and one of 350 grams, on the left.  The two smaller ones will be made into 4 demi baguettes. 

From here, I folded, formed and sealed them as normal.  Forming the baguette naturally elongates the dough so very little rolling is needed to get them to size.  The two smaller pre-shapes got formed and rolled then cut in half as making them smaller on their own is difficult.

Eventually I preheated the oven to 475ºF and had a cup of boiling water ready for the pan in the bottom of the oven.  I'm still using a serrated bread knife to make the cuts (but I may get a baker's lame soon) and I've stopped misting the loaves with a spray bottle of water, trusting the steam from the water pan to work its magic.

I've also been playing with the oven temperature, lowering it a bit after putting them in and extending the baking time a few minutes.  So far it seems to be working well, and I ended up with some pretty good-looking baguettes.

We really enjoy the this bread and I like trying to make it better each time, so I just haven't branched out to other recipes in some time now.  I am anxious to make that French bread recipe again, but there's only two of us so there just hasn't been a need yet.  That's okay, quality over quantity is a good thing here..