Posts tagged french
I got my purse stolen – Purses filled with crayfish, leeks and cherry tomatoes, curry cream sauce
Feb 8th
Aumonières aux écrevisses, poireaux et tomates cerises, sauce curry
I am back in the US and I did not post anything while in France, simply because I had no time to cook – I think I prepared lunch for my parents twice, the rest of my stay my mom cooked and we had guests so no time to shot anything…and to be honest, I had no motivation to cook. What a shame!!!! I always think, I will have time to shot the old town, la vieille ville or our gorgeous Place Stanislas (the most beautiful square in Europe) painted in gold, or our beautiful architecture. But no, I get there and I get caught in family stuff, my life changes completely, and this time I even left my camera in the suitcase! Oh well, c’est comme ca, et tant pis!
These purses are made with feuilles de brick (also called brick dough or brick pastry in the US) that I bought while I was in France (they’re more popular over there than filo dough) , they’re mainly used in middle eastern cuisine and really hard to find in the US, so far I have not found yet a store that carry them, except Amazon, but they’re too expensive. I paid only 0.90 Euros for a pack of 10. You can substitute filo dough sheets, but I prefer the texture of feuilles de brick, they’re more resistant and not as fragile.
Aumonières were an old type of purse that people use to carry on their belt so that no one would steal the money. In the food world they refer to any dough (crêpe, filo dough, feuilles de brick) filled with anything, it can be fish, vegetables, meat, etc.. basically it’s a eatable purse filled with food instead of money.
Sometimes I like to substitute crème fraîche with fromage blanc. If you are using fromage blanc instead of the heavy cream for the sauce, you won’t be able to boil it, not cook it, so you’ll have a cold sauce instead of hot. In this case, a hot sauce goes much better with the whole dish since the purses are hot.
You can use shrimps or scallops instead of crayfish, and use your creativity for the filling, it’s all about what you like!
Ingredients for 4 people
- 8 feuilles de brick
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 leek, chopped
- 1/2 lb crayfish tales (already cooked)
- about 16 cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- salt and pepper
For the sauce
- Crème fraîche or fromage blanc
- Curry to taste
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a pan. Add leeks and cook until tender. Adjust with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Cut two circles of about 2.5 inches 4 brick sheets. Then take a whole sheet, brush the surface with olive oil, and place two of the small circles in the middle. Divide the leeks in the center of these circles, add six tomato halves on top of the leeks and top it off with the crayfish, Sprinkle with sesame seeds, salt and pepper. Proceed the same way for the other purses.
Close the purses by bringing the sides to the front forming a purse. Tie it up with cooking thread. Bake in a pre heated oven at 370 F for about 15 minutes, make sure the purses don’t burn or become too dark.
For the sauce, bring the cream, lemon juice and curry to a light boil, then add salt and pepper.
Serve the purses hot with the sauce on the side.
Sunday dessert – Espresso pot de crème
Jan 14th
Dessert du dimanche – Pot de crème à l’expresso
This is my last post before my trip to France, I am leaving on Monday to fly to Nancy (Lorraine) to visit my parents as every January. Hopefully I will get a lot of inspiration while at home and post some exciting recipes. In the meantime, I wanted to make these pots de crème for such a long time and les voilà!
I already talked about Le Garage, this wonderful little French restaurant in Sausalito, that serve delicious and fresh brunches (if you are in the bay Area I strongly recommend it) besides, their bread is absolutely the best in the Bay Area. Last Sunday, I ordered a pot de crème a l’expresso served with financiers (little almond cakes) for dessert, and I fell in love with them. Now that is my ultimate favorite treat after lunch. Pot de crème is literally translated into “cream jar” or “cream pot” and they come in many flavors, chocolate, caramel vanilla, etc…
I have tried many versions as an attempt to reproduce the same pots de crème, the first tentative was more like a flan than a creme, too much coffee and not sweet enough. The ratio milk/cream and egg was not right. There were too many eggs for the quantity of milk/cream. So I decreased half the eggs for the same quantity of milk/cream and they turned out too liquid. So I finally found the right ratio after a few tentatives. When you have the right quantities it’s such an easy dessert to prepare, so simple and quick too.
These pots de crème are delightful and if you like coffee, you’ll be in heaven. I will make these on a regular basis from now on.
Ingredients for 3-4 pots de crème (depending on the size of the cups)
- 10.14 fl oz (or 300 ml) milk
- 3.38 fl oz (or 100 ml) cream
- 1.41 oz (or 40 g) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 yolk
- 1 small espresso cup of espresso
Preparation
Pre-heat oven at 320F
In pot, mix cream, milk, sugar, and coffee and let it boil. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and yolk well. Pour the milk mixture on top of the eggs and stir well.
Strain mixture to remove the foam and pour in small cups.
Place in a water bath and bake in the oven for about 30-40 minutes. remove from oven and let cool. Place cups in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Serve with a dollop of creme fraîche in the center and sprinkle with coca powder, or coffee beans.
Thank you Antoine – French vegetarian shepherd’s pie with mushrooms, taleggio and three purées
Jan 7th
Merci Antoine – Hachis parmentier végétarien aux champignons, taleggio et aux trois purées
In France Hachis parmentier is something eaten quite frequently and that kids love, due to its combination of potato puree and ground meet. My mom being Italian, she never really prepared this, but when I went to my friend’s houses, hachis parmentier was a dish served quite often. I remember my mom saying that she didn’t like it because it was made with leftover meats therefore not something too exciting (actually people do use meat they had left from pot-au-feu or boiled meats, etc…). A “hachis” is a dish where all the ingredients are ground, chopped alltogether. Haché means ground, viande hachée, ground meat.
Parmentier comes from Antoine Parmentier, a pharmacist and chemist born in the 18e century. After a trip to Ireland, he discovered the health benefits of potatoes and became convinced that potatoes would help treat problems of poor blood circulation, intestinal problems, etc…He introduced potato to Louis XVI to cure starvation and as a result this dish was born. I think the Irish or English version is called Shepherd’s Pie.
I have been wanting to make a vegetarien hachis parmentier and have been thinking about this recipe for quite some time, without really succeeding in finalizing it. Not being a huge fan of potatoes, I wanted to use something “more” than potatoes, so here is a purée of carrots, yams and sweet potatoes and I honestly loved every bite of this hachis parmentier. I cooked the carrots and potatoes in milk so they absorbed a good amount of it while cooking. The hachis is made of wild mushrooms, leeks and celeri…the sweet flavor of the potatoes combined with the nutty mushrooms and melted taleggio is simply fantastic (Taleggio is an Italian soft cheese with a fragrant and strong nutty flavor). Funny, how you can see on the picture some smoke coming up from the hachis, since it came straight out of the oven. I wouldn’t think the smoke would show on a picture.
You can add more mushroom mixture, and play around with the layers, in my version I added a thicker layer of potato mixture, it’s all about how you want it to be. I served this in individual ramequins with a small salad, you can serve hachis parmentier in a large dish and serve it as a meal by itself, it’s a very satisfying meal and really don’t need anything else on the side.
Ingredients for 4 individual hachis
For the mushroom-leek mixture
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, finely diced
- 1/2 lb mixed mushrooms (cremini, shiitake, chanterelles, etc….) cut in small pieces
- 1 leek, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- thyme
- Taleggio, sliced
- Panko bread crumbs for topping
For the potato-carrot mixture
- 2 large carrots, peeled and cut about 1 inch trunks
- 1 small yam, peeled and cut in about 1 inch pieces
- 1 small sweet potato and cut in about 1 inch pieces
- milk (enough to cover the vegetables)
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Start by preparing the potato-carrot purée. Cook carrots, sweet potatoes, yams in milk at medium heat. When cooked remove from stove, drain milk and keep aside and mash vegetables. Adjust with salt and pepper. If too thick add milk set aside.
Heat olive oil in a pan, add shallots and celery and cook until tender and slightly browned. Add leeks and let them cook covered until tender. Remove from pan and set aside. Add some extra olive oil, and cook mushrooms until water evaporates. When cooked, add leeks and mix well. Add garlic and let cook for a few minutes more. Add thyme, salt and pepper.
In four deep individual dishes or ramequins, place one layer of mushrooms, top it with taleggio, then finish with carrot-potato purée. Sprinkle with panko breadcrumbs. Cook in a pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes, then broil top until it turns golden brown. Serve immediately.
On the thumb – Green bean salad mimosa with herb-butter shrimp tartines
Oct 25th
Sur le pouce – Salade de haricots verts mimosa et tartines de crevettes au beurre d’herbes
Sur le pouce, is literally translated by “on the thumb”, je mange sur le pouce, or I eat on the thumb, which means eating fast. It originated in the XIX century when workers didn’t have time to eat, they cut a piece of bread with a knife, and eating it using their thumbs.
Today two things made me happy and brightened up my day, this quick lunch sur le pouce (even though I used a fork!) and my new lamp (created by Shmulik Krampf, an extremely talented Israeli Artist who blows glass they way they do it in Murano, Italy). What do my lamp and this meal have in common? well they’re both colorful, vibrant and make me feel alive.
Sometimes when I come back from the gym, I don’t have time to cook for myself, so I eat snacks…and today I decided to not eat snacks and indulge myself…but still having a limited time, I had to make something quick. It all took me 20 minutes, which I think it’s almost like fast food.
Why do we call this mimosa? Mimosa refers to devil eggs, we call them “oeufs mimosa“, so here since we have boiled eggs, we can call them mimosa. I am not sure if “we” can, but I do.
Asparagus can be used if you don’t have green beans, it’s as delicious, and you can use scallops instead of the shrimps. Garlic, herb, butter those ingredients are a perfect match with seafood.
Ingredients for 2
For the green beans
- 250 g fine green beans
- 2 eggs, hard boiled and grated
- 2 tbs capers, rinced and chopped
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 1/2 tomato, seeds removed, and diced
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
For the shrimps tartine (3 toasts each)
- 18 shrimps, peeled and deveined
- 1/4 ts paprika
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- 1 tsp dill, chopped
- 1 tsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp butter
- 6 slices baguettes, or country bread, toasted
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the green beans
Bring a large pot to a boil with water. Cook grean beans for about 5-7 minutes until tender but still a little crunchy. Drain, and place in a container filled with iced water. Set aside.
Prepare the vinaigrette, mixing the capers, scallion, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Drain green beans, place on a plate. Add grated eggs, tomatoes, then pour vinaigrette on top.
For the shrimps tartines
Add paprika to the shrimps, and coat well. Add salt and pepper.
Mix butter, garlic and herbs with a fork and form an homogenous paste. In a pan melt butter/herbs slowly, then add shrimps. Cook at medium temperature until the shrimps are cooked but still juicy.
Toast bread slices. Place three shrimps on top of each tartine, and pour some butter/garlic mixture on top.
Serve with green bean salad on the side.
Birthday treat – Verrines of pain d’épices, peach compote and fromage blanc mousse
Oct 15th
Gourmandise pour un anniversaire – Verrines de pain d’épices, compote de pêches et mousse au fromage blanc
Another year is going by, who likes getting older? I don’t and people who say they do, I am not sure they really mean it…yesterday was my birthday and I got up with a massive headache! So I still decided to treat myself thinking that one of those mini desserts, will make me feel better. When and if you make pain d’épices, you open the door to many preparations. I could not resist to make those mini desserts after I made pain d’épices. They’re not sweet, but very light and terribly delicious. Of course, they’re tiny so you can easily eat a few. That glass is actually about 2 inches tall, or a bit smaller, so with a few spoonful, you can finish it up.
Mini desserts are great for parties, you eat one and it’s not stuffy, no one likes the feeling of being stuffed (I don’t), the feeling of being satisfied is much more pleasant in my opinion. The mousse is so light and the fruity compote combined with spicy cake makes it the perfect trio.
Ingredients for 6 small verrines
For the Fromage blanc mousse
- 1 egg
- 1 tbs sugar
- 4 tbs fromage blanc or Fage Greek yogurt
For the peach compote
- 2 yellow peaches, peeled and cut in small cubes
- 1 tsp brown sugar (or to taste)
- a few drops of vanilla extract
For the pain d’épices – see recipe here
Preparation
For the mousse
Separate yolk from white and place in different containers. Add sugar to the yolks and beat until the mixture turns white and creamy and doubles volume. Beat the whites in a stiff consistency. Carefully add the whites to the yolk/fromage blanc mixture.
For the peach compote
Cook peaches with sugar and vanilla for about 15 min or until they turn soft and mushy. Let it cool down.
In a small glass, place one tbs or tsp (depending on the size of the glass) of crumbled pain d’épices, add 1 tps or tsp of peach compote, then add fromage blanc mousse. Repeat process twice until you reach top of the glass. Eat at room temperature or cold.
The sweet taste of childhood – Pain d’épices or Spicy bread
Aug 26th
Douce sensation d’enfance – Pain d’épices
I decided out of the blue one day to make pain d’épices…I think last time I had one slice I must have been 10 years old. What is pain d’épices? Well it’s another one of those traditional French breads or cake that is popular in Alsace region. It’s literally translated into “spice bread”, simply because it has many spices. It could be an distant ancestor of the Ginger bread, but the French one has no ginger so, I would not even try to compare it to ginger bread.
Pain d’épices is made with honey and rye flour, and no sugar even though some recipes include brown sugar. Of course some recipes vary slightly from one to another; this version has no butter nor oil, so no fat and no eggs. Its consistency is very similar to the one I am used to eating in France…chewy, dense and very flavorful.
The origin of pain d’épices is traced back to ancient times (as far as the Egyptians) and was brought to Europe from China by the Crusades. They brought back the recipe and the spices, It was then spread over Europe during the middle ages, and the first Pain d’Epices called Lebkuchen was found in Germany in 1296. But it’s in Reims in XVII century that the Masters of Pain d’épiciers (Maîtres de pain d’épiciers) were officially recognized by King Henri IV as a specialty company. Reims remained one historical city linked to this bread. Nowadays there are two different kinds of Pain d’épices, the one from Reims made with mainly rye flour and the one from Dijon made with mainly wheat flour. Think that that we have a Museum on Pain d’épices in Alsace, called Musée du Pain d’épice et de l’art populaire Alsacien so that’s a serious deal!
In this recipe I use already packaged spices “épices pour pain d’épices” I bought during my last trip to France, but you can use loose ones, so I will give you the quantities for regular loose spices.
Pain d’épices can be served with savory dishes such as foie gras, or salmon…it can be eaten as is with a cup of hot chocolate, or as a toast with butter and jam, even prepared as a French toast, or combined with fruits in verrines (this will be on my next post). So as you can see its use is quite wide.
I was thinking that for someone with a savory tooth like mine, I did quite a good job with the sweets lately. The beauty of it is that I always share half of my sweet concoctions with my neighbor…otherwise I would break the poor scale. Unfortunately I am not among the lucky ones who can eat anything and remain thin…I have to work at it!! Oh well, maybe in my next life!
Ingredients for one loaf
- 4.4 oz (or 125 g) wholewheat flour
- 4.4 oz (or 125 g) rye flour (you can also use 250 g rye only)
- 7 oz (or 200 g) honey
- 1.7 oz (or 50 g) agave nectar
- 6.7 fl oz (or 200 ml) milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp star anise powder
- 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/4 tsp clove powder
- 1 tsp orange peel powder (see picture above)
Preparation
In a mixing bowl combine honey, agave nectar and lukewarm milk. Mix well to dissolve the honey. Add flours gradually whisking well to obtain a smooth and homogenous mixture. Add the rest of the ingredients. Place in a bread pan previously buttered and floured to prevent from sticking. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 365-370F for about one hour. Let it cool and serve warm or cold.
Pâte à Choux, part II – Divine Chouquettes
Aug 19th
Pâte à Choux, 2ème partie – Divines Chouquettes
After gougères, I thought to continue with pâte à choux and make something special for the sweet tooth crowd: Des Chouquettes! It’s basically the sweet version of gougères with a sweet dough and sprinkled with pearl sugar. Chouqettes in France are as famous as the Eiffel Tower. They had a contest last year in Paris about which bakery would make the best chouquettes. So if you’re in Paris and decide to try the best chouquettes in the city, check this article. Sorry it’s in French but they give you the address! I added some orange blossom water for a little twist, but traditional chouquettes are plain, with no flavoring. I recommend trying the traditional ones the first time you make them, then you can play around with the flavors.
You have to get a specific texture, inside and outside, right color, etc…so making great chouquettes is not always that easy. Every boulangerie in France sells them, by the 100 g, but of course, hard to leave with only a 100 grams!
I can assure you that those are always a crowd pleaser…bring them at any party or dinner, you will be the star of the evening. Besides what’s a cuter name than chouquette???
Ingredients for about 24 chouquettes
- 4.20 fl oz (or 125 ml) water
- 4.4 oz (or 125 g) white flour
- 1 tbs orange blossom water (optional)
- 2.4 oz (or 70 g) butter
- one pinch salt
- 1.9 oz (or 55 g) sugar
- 4 eggs (+1 one for brushing)
- pearl sugar
Preparation
Place water, sugar, butter and orange blossom water in a pot. Bring to a boil and remove from stove. Add flour gradually and whisk well to obtain a smooth dough. At this point the dough will thicken. Put the pot back on the stove and keep stirring until the dough detaches from the sides of the pot and dies out a bit. Remove from stove. Let it cool for a few minutes.
Add eggs one at a time and incorporate into the dough, to obtain a smooth dough/batter.
Place dough in a piping bag, and on a cookie tray, form small balls the size of a walnut. Brush the top with a yolk, and decorate with pearl sugar.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 380F for about 20-25 minutes.
So French – Gougères with comté cheese and thyme
Aug 10th
Si Français – Gougères au comté et thym
These are one of those delicious appetizers that are so good, so easy to make, that everyone loves, but yet, I never think of making them. So I figure by posting them on my blog, it will make me remember that they shall not be forgotten!
Gougères are a specialty from Bourgogne region (you know that region where are produced many great French wines such as Chablis, Côtes de Beaunes, Bourgogne Aligoté, etc…); they’re made with a base of a pâte à choux and cheese. Gougères are either made in individual small balls or even in a large pan like a pie. They can also be stuffed with a béchamel sauce and ham. Either way, they’re always delightful. They make wonderful appetizers, you can also serve them as a side cute addition to a soup, preferably a velouté. They will immediately make your soup very elegant.
Now if we are going further into who invented Pâte à choux…well it seems that an Italian baker called Panterelli brought it over to France when Catherine de Medici arrived around 1540. Then of course, the French contributed to its evolution, and started making profiterolles and other pâte à choux based pastries.
Usually, gougères are made with hard cheeses like gruyère, parmesan or comté, but you can use roquefort, or other strong cheeses. I stayed with a traditional base of comté, but you can play around with the pâte à choux and make it your own.
Ingredients for about 25 medium size gougères
- 1 cup (or 250 ml) water
- 4 eggs (+ 1 yolk)
- 5.30 oz (or 150 g) comté cheese, grated
- 5.30 oz (or 150 g) white flour
- 2.65 oz (or 75 g) butter
- 1 tbs thyme, finely chopped
- nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- pepper
Preparation
Mix water and butter in a pot and bring to a boil, add salt. Remove from stove and add flour all at once. Mix well to obtain a smooth batter, then place back on low temperature while stirring vigorously until the dough detaches from the sides of the pot and turns into a consistent ball. Remove from heat, and let it cool for a few minutes. Add eggs, one at a time. Mix well until the batter becomes smooth. Add cheese, thyme, nutmeg and pepper.
Butter a tray to prevent sticking. Using two teaspoons or a douille, divide all the dough into big walnuts size little piles.
Brush each gougère with beaten yolk and cook in a pre-heated oven at 390F for about 20-30 minutes, until the gougères are golden brown and have risen. Serve hot or at room temperature as apéritif.
Pause-café – Matcha tea financier with grilled peaches and strawberry coulis
Aug 5th
Financier au thé vert, pêches grillées et coulis de fraises
Financiers are a traditional individual little French cakes made with almond powder and brown butter. Usually they’re rectangular but I gave them their original round shape. They’re sometimes called Visitandines, due to their original fabrication by Visitandines nuns. They used to be round like these ones but became rectangular over the years and especially after arriving in Switzerland where the Swiss decided to make them rectangular.
Financier in French also refers to people working in the finance field. It’s been said that these tiny cakes were created by a pastry chef or what we call pâtissier so that finance people would not make their fingers dirty while eating them. I don’t know if it’s true, but I think that there is always something true in popular ear-say.
After surfing the wonderful site called l’Atelier des Chefs, I saw this little dessert that tempted me and I decided to try it out. Do not hesitate to make these financiers, they’re delightful. I only substituted agave nectar to powdered sugar in the coulis which adds a more natural and flavorful touch, other than that the recipe remained the same.
Since peaches are in season, it’s the perfect time to grill them and eat them warm with these green tea cakes…and what’s better than a strawberry coulis to add the final touch? nothing. These mini cakes are very moist and absolutely perfect for any occasion.
Ingredients for about 10 financiers
For the Financiers
- 2.82 oz (or 80 g) almond flour or powder
- 1.76 oz (or 50 g) white flour
- 0.35 oz (or 10 g) matcha green tea powder
- 6.17 oz (or 175 g) powder sugar
- 5.29 oz (or 150 g) egg whites (about 3)
- 5.29 oz (or 150 g) butter
For the coulis and peaches
- 6 peaches
- 1/2 lb (or 250 g) strawberries
- agave nectar
Preparation
For the financiers
In a mixing container combine all ingredients except butter. Melt butter in a pan and let it brown. Do not let if cook too long until it becomes too dark. It needs to have a nice nutty color. Let it cool and add to the other ingredients. Divide the batter in muffin molds (fill in the molds to half). Cook in a pre heated oven at 180C.
For the coulis, blend strawberries with agave nectar.
Cut peaches in slices and grill on a skillet on both sides.
Serve financiers with grilled peaches and strawberry coulis.
Heidi’s starter – Baguette au levain
Apr 25th
Le levain d’Heidi – Baguette au levain
My lovely and adorable acupuncturist, Heidi gave me some starter that is supposedly 250 year old, can you imagine? Maybe Thomas Edison ate bread using the same starter…Heidi is amazing, she is not only a sweet and great doctor but she is an excellent baker. So if you need a good acupuncturist, go see Heidi, you will not regret it, she will relax you while giving you tips on how to make great bread!
I have to admit that I don’t consider myself to be a great baker but growing up in France, I am a baguette snob and addict. Eating bad bread in a restaurant can ruin my meal. I tried making baguettes, here and there but I never managed to make bread like the one you get at the boulangerie. I never made bread using a starter before, only fresh yeast. I thought why make bread when you can buy good one. Well, in France you can, almost all the boulangeries make great baguettes, you just walk down the street and get your baguette, end of story. In the US, it’s not always the case but I still didn’t want to go through the trouble of bread making, that’s as simple as that…but always thinking, “oh that would be so great to make my own baguette”…such a conflictual thought!
After buying Tartine’s book called “Tartine Bread” (for those out of town who don’t know Tartine Bakery, it’s a famous bakery in San Francisco whose country bread is simply incredible) and reading some of it, I got once more a little discouraged about all the details and the process in making levain and its bread. So after I got the starter from Heidi, I figured I would use her starter (levain) and use a few ideas taken from Tartine Bread book. I have made baguette using poolish, traditional French baguettes don’t use a starter. Poolish is basically a yeast starter, it’s the same process than a regular starter, but you put same quantities of flour and water, and a little tiny quantity of fresh yeast and let the mixture ferment.
In this baguette, I used half starter and half yeast, so you can taste a little bit of the sour flavor of the starter, but it’s very subtle. I have never really liked sourdough baguettes, I thought the flavor is too strong and the bread too compact, not airy enough..Maybe I am used to the traditional French baguettes…
So if you are in the mood for a long process and are committed to it, go ahead and try this, you will love these baguettes. Kneading and touching soft dough, is even more relaxing than a massage! BUT WARNING….You need to be patient and not in a hurry so this is not for the impatient types. If you have no patience, do not start this process, you might get frustrated. But if you’re up for the challenge, don’t think twice! Crunchy crust, the inside is moist, wonderful nutty flavor…After eating all this bread this weekend with cheese, I will avoid getting on the scale.
Ingredients for 4 baguettes
- 300 g starter (see here for recipe)
- 600 g bread flour
- water
- 2 tsp sea salt
For the poolish
- 200 g water
- 200 g flour
- 10 g fresh yeast (dissolved in lukewarm water)
Preparation
Prepare the poolish the night before. Dissolve yeast in water and in a small container, mix with flour to obtain a smooth and semi-liquid batter. Cover with a towel and let it rise for one hour or two, then place in the refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, using a large mixing container, mix starter and poolish, then add flour, water and salt. The quantity of water depends on the texture, you need enough water to make the dough soft and slightly sticky. Knead (your hands will have dough sticking to them) for a little while, then let it rest and rise for one hour. Then every 30 minutes, knead the dough lightly to “chase” the air. Repeat the process for 3 hours (every 30 minutes a beating).
Remove dough from container, and cut in 4 equal pieces, add flour to work the dough if necessary. Make rectangle shape dough pieces. Fold dough taking one end folding it up. Repeat the process about 10 times. Form baguettes, place on a baking stone and let rise again for about 2 hours.
Pre-heat oven at 500F, and at the same time, place a small metal container filled with water in the lower level of the oven.
Using a razor blade, make cuts on top of baguettes crosswise.
Place baguettes in oven and cook for about 30 minutes until the crust is golden brown.
