A while ago, I saw a message:
France will apply for the baguette.
As a traditional Baguette, baguettes have long been a popular French icon. It is reported that the French consume about 10 billion sticks a year, which is about 320 per second.
Isn't that amazing?!
In fact, don't be shocked, after all, in my opinion, the more simple and delicious, the more it can cast a classic.
The basic material of the baguette
The French long stick (la baguette), one of the simple characteristics, is reflected in the material: flour, salt, yeast and water.
In 1993, the French government issued a decree stipulating that "traditional" baguettes can only be made from four classic ingredients and that the dough should be fermented at a temperature of 4-6 °C for 15-20 hours.
The dough kneaded in this way is also the classic prototype of European bread.
Oil-free, sugar-free, egg-free, milk-free, low-fat healthy and burden-free.
In the traditional method, the French dough is made by self-solution, that is, slowly stirring flour and water, standing for 20-60 minutes, waiting for the flour to absorb water and develop gluten, and then adding yeast and salt to ferment layer by layer.
A successful baguette
Unlike the "hard" in our impression, the baguette is the representative of the real "outer rigidity and inner softness".
Viewed from the outside: long figure, full body, well-proportioned cut lines, burnt yellow color.
From the inside: staggered pores of different sizes, cream core, shiny luster.
From the taste point of view: the outer skin is crispy, the inner core is moist and tough. When chewed, the mouth emits a taste of wheat and sweetness.
It is also because there is no excessive invasion of taste, which shapes the versatile personality of the baguette, with soups, stews, meat, sauces, etc., locked by uniform holes, thus changing different dishes.
It can also be wrapped in prune button meat, smoked chicken green sauce, rye nuts, cranberries, honey citrus, etc., to expand the taste.
The rich layers gradually bloom, making people unconsciously fascinated. It is no wonder that the status is like our rice, and we can't leave it and we are reluctant to leave.
In many international competitions, the baguette is also a compulsory item
The above are all descriptions of appearances, if standardized, but there are specific values.
Standard baguette: about 5-6 cm in diameter, 55-65 cm in length, about 250-300 g in weight, 18 g of salt per kg of flour.
But one thing to note is that not all baguettes are traditional sticks.
For example, after the improvement of the Japanese baguette, the inner core will appear dryer, and shorten the fermentation time, and we are widely used.
Therefore, traditional long sticks also have quantitative standards: the water content is 71-74% (generally 58%), and the protein in flour is 6.7-12%.
How to make a delicious baguette
Due to the simplicity of raw materials, it is more necessary to carefully consider the selection of raw materials.
For example, flour:
Since it is French bread, it is natural that the French T series flour is more suitable. Fermented and loosened, the taste will be amazing.
Among them, T65 flour is more suitable for making baguettes, retaining more bran, which can make the aroma, crispness, wheat flavor and texture of the baguette more prominent.
Japanese powder is characterized by more meticulous grinding, generally less additives, or even no additives, and the skin of the baguette made is relatively thin, and the tissue is soft and delicate.
Domestic flour will use some gluten flour to increase the gluten and water absorption of flour, and the wetness of the baguette will be better, the volume will be relatively large, and the Q elasticity will be more prominent.
Fermentation is also a crucial part of the operation.
The production of the baguette, the simple point is to mix the raw materials→ fermentation→ plastic pressing→ fermentation... The proportion of fermentation in the process is very large.
Knead the dough, let it sit and wait, let the yeast in the dough decompose the sugar well, form carbon dioxide, form gluten tissue through the protein, wrap it in gas, and bake it to expand out of the good look and get a delicious taste.
The fermentation time, fermentation temperature, and fermentation method will all affect the final effect of the baguette.
In general, the fermentation method can be divided into 3 categories: direct method, low temperature fermentation method, and medium method.
The biggest advantage of the direct method is that it saves time.
o Knead all the ingredients into a dough and after half an hour or 1 hour of fermentation time, it can be sent to the oven. The finished product will have a faint wheat aroma and is very suitable for use by bakeries.
Low-temperature fermentation requires a refrigerated space.
o Through low temperature, reduce yeast activity, so that the flour has enough time to absorb water, after secondary fermentation, the bread is softer and easier to chew.
o Because of the long fermentation time, it will produce a richer taste layer, which is not only full of wheat aroma, but also sweet and moist.
The medium-seed method combines the advantages of the direct method and the low-temperature fermentation method.
o Divide the dough into two productions, the first dough, take 60-85% of the flour content and 55-60% of the water content plus yeast mix, form a medium seed dough, let it slowly and long fermentation.
o After the expansion of the medium-seed dough, cut into small pieces and mix with the remaining materials to form the main dough, then carry out a short fermentation time, and then reshape and bake.
o The finished product has a softer and more elastic taste, and due to the longer fermentation time, less yeast can be used, but the production time is longer.
Tips for making baguettes
1. Why hydrolysis?
Because the hydrolyzed dough can naturally produce gluten, shorten the stirring time after shortening, if there is no hydrolysis step, directly start stirring the dough, some of the nutritional parts of the bread will volatilize off, and the color of the baked bread will be relatively white.
2. The reason why the operation of the baguette is more difficult.
Because its gluten is relatively fragile, there is no grease, the whole gluten is relatively dry, so we have to operate according to its strength, if you have been too hard to break the skin, the moisture inside it will seep out, which will affect the overall completion of the bread and the shape of the surface.
3. The requirements of the baguette for the knife edge.
Generally requires a depth of 2mm, too deep will appear bread paralysis; the length of the knife edge is controlled at more than 10cm, the angle is 15 to 20 °, and the latter knife is started at 2/3 of the previous knife, and the distance between the two knives is 2cm.
Most importantly, the baguette cut needs to be made in one go, so that the baking knife edge will be more beautiful.
4. Baked baguette shape.
The two ends should be cocked, the middle resembles an arc, and the color of the surface should be divided into three kinds, so that it looks better.
5. The organizational form and cause of the baguette.
The tissue after the baguette is cut is to have a honeycomb-like, if your hive is too large, it may be that your basic awakening time is long, it is filled with more gas, it will be very large, if you want to shorten the basic awakening time if you want to have smaller stomata.
6. The wetness of the baguette.
The inside of the baked baguette is very bright, and many small pores are also relatively moist, and the wetness mainly depends on the temperature at which our dough is stirred and the time of baking.
7. Why do you use a fermenting cloth for baguette fermentation?
The temperature of the baking pan is relatively low, the water content of the baguette is relatively high, and it is easy to stick, while the transfer plate and fermentation cloth are relatively constant temperature, which is more suitable for dough operation when making baguettes.
8. What should I do if the oven does not have a steam function?
You can put a small iron plate while preheating the oven, and after preheating the bread, put a small handful of ice cubes (5-7 pieces) to a small iron plate, and the ice cubes will evaporate into water vapor.
After reading this, I don't know if you have a deeper understanding of the baguette?