2013 Cooking Club Week 3 : Homemade Crusty Baguette and Pissaladière

LaChatteGitane

Part 1

Baguette/Flûte/Pain Bâtard



Up till last August I always used to make my own bread. All kinds, all shapes.

These days bread is off the menu in our house (for the time being anyhow), but I am not going to begrudge anyone else eating it.

With this I present you with this recipe, which I picked up while living in France.

I always use my trusty Kenwood for kneading (please forgive me), but obviously you can do it by hand if you are that way inclined.

For 2 baguettes of 350 gr. each.
Preheat oven to 240°C or 220 °C fan assisted before the second proof.
This bread should be eaten on the same day, preferably still warm with a knob of salted butter. But you can pop it back into the oven the next day , if needs must, or you can use it for bruschetta.

Ingredients

• 15 gr fresh yeast (or equivalent in dried yeast)

• 40 ml tepid water
• 500 gr strong white flour
• (I here have to admit in using just plain white flour and it works fine for me)
• 270 ml tepid water
• 10 gr salt

Preparation

• In a small bowl mix yeast with the 40 ml of tepid water and set aside for 20 minutes.

• In the bowl of your food mixer, add the flour that you bring together with some of the water
• (the amount of water can be rectified at a later stage as it depends on how much or little moisture your flour contains)
• Add the yeast mixture.
• Knead well for a couple of minutes, adding more water when needed.
• Add the salt and knead for another 10 minuteThe dough should be pliable, but not stick to the hands.

• Leave to prove, in the bowl, covered with a clean kitchen towel for about 45 minutes.

• When the dough has doubled in size, put it on the flour-dusted worktop.

• With the ball of your hand, gently press it out into a sheet of 1 to 2 cm thickness.

• Lift one corner and roll the dough onto itself diagonally, to a sausage or baguette shape

• Place seam side down on a baking tray that you lined with baking paper.

• Cover with clean kitchen towel and leave to rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour (this depends, obviously, on the room temperature)
• Preheat now the oven.
• Make two cuts into the bread diagonally of approx 0,5 cm deep
• Bake for 30 minutes

LaChatteGitane

Part 2

Pissaladière



This savoury tart is not just for girls. This is a gutsy savoury tart and full of natural umami.

It originates from Provence and is a cousin of the oh so popular Italian pizza. The original has a yeast dough, thicker than pizza dough. These days it is often made with shortcrust or even puff pastry.

Pissala or pissalat is Occitan for salted fish. Peis salat in Niçard.

I like it with shortcrust - homemade preferably. For this I use http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/shortcrustpastry_1278 as a guide, but I always quadruple the amount. Any leftover pastry goes into the freezer for another time.

Shortcrust pastry


Ingredients

• 500gr plain flour
• pinch of salt x4
• 220 gr butter, cubed
• 120ml cold water

Preparation

• Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and add the cubes of butter.
• Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs with no large lumps of butter remaining. Try to work quickly so that it does not become greasy.
• Using a knife, stir in just enough of the cold water to bind the dough together.
• Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes before using.
• Alternatively using a food processor, put the flour, butter and salt in the food processor and pulse until the fat is rubbed into the flour.
• With the motor running, gradually add the water through the funnel until the dough comes together. Only add enough water to bind it and then stop.
• Wrap the dough in clingfilm as before and chill for 30 minutes before using.

The onion filling


Ingredients

• 1 kg onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• Provençale herbs (thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano)
• olive oil
• 1 egg
• seasoning (salt & pepper)
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 or 2 tins anchovies
• pitted black olives

Preparation

• Peel the onions, slice thinly and grate or finely chop the garlic.
• Gently sweat with the herbs in some olive oil without browning till tender and sweet.
• Stir in the tomato puree.
  
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Leave to cool and add 1 egg, mix well.
• Roll out the pastry. Line the buttered and floured pie/tart tin (alternatively, you could just use grease proof paper - that is what I do)
• Prick with a fork (I do this but don't know why)
• Cover the base with the onion mixture.
• Use the anchovy strips to make a lattice on the tart. Place the olives in the 'diamonds'.
• Bake in a preheated oven 220° C / 200° C fan assisted for 25 minutes.
• Serve hot or at room temperature.

Honey-ec

Thanks LCG, I'll definitely be trying your baguettes. The ones I make are really good, but really time-consuming as they use a cold autolyse and then three improvements, the upshot being that I don't make them very often!

Will report back when I do

Faith

I genuinely went "Uuuuooooooohhhhh" when I saw the first picture. I SO want to make those baguettes, but I too am trying to keep bread out of the house for a while. This is top of my list for making as soon as I can treat myself, though!

Dizzyblonde

I usually make my bread in a machine but I'm definitely going to make those baguettes LCG, they look amazing!

BaZmO*

LaChatteGitane wrote: »

When the dough has doubled in size, put it on the flour-dusted worktop.

You need a bigger bowl!

Looks great though. Can't wait to try it.

eviltwin

Trying the bread out now....it will be a treat for my bagutte loving hubby when he comes home. It looks gorgeous.

I'm using dried yeast, 10g of fresh yeast is the equiv of 1 teaspoon of the dried stuff.

eviltwin

The bread turned out great, I made the dough in a bread machine and put it in the oven and both loaves were gone in the space of an hour

hdowney

Also on a keep away from bread (failing miserably!) so when I can eat crusty french bread this will be top of my list

oscarBravo

I'll probably make the bread before the weekend is out, mmmmm...

I'm in two minds about the pissaladière. It looks utterly delicious - but olives are one of the very few flavours I simply can't stand! That said, I can sometimes appreciate the flavour they impart to a dish, but the thought of biting into one gives me the shudders.

I wonder if I could make it as shown, then pick out the olives before eating it...? :pac:

LaChatteGitane

oscarBravo wrote: »

I'll probably make the bread before the weekend is out, mmmmm...

I'm in two minds about the pissaladière. It looks utterly delicious - but olives are one of the very few flavours I simply can't stand! That said, I can sometimes appreciate the flavour they impart to a dish, but the thought of biting into one gives me the shudders.

I wonder if I could make it as shown, then pick out the olives before eating it...? :pac:

It's the onions and the anchovies that are essential in pissaladière, so you could omit the olives. Or you could quarter them and put a quarter in each diamond, then you don't have to 'bite' into a whole one.

Don't be in two minds about this savoury tart. It IS utterly delicious ! Especially if you're a fan of anchovies. yumm! :cool:

Honey-ec

Made the baguettes yesterday to go with last night's beef bourgignon, they were absolutely gorgeous. Every bit as good as my arsey cold autolyse method, and a fraction of the effort, so that recipe has officially been replaced. The only change I made was to put a pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven with them, as it makes for the most awesome crust.

Would you mind if I included this recipe in my blog, LCG? I'll give you full credit, obviously!

Malari

Wow, that bread looks delicious! I'm trying asap. Although it'll probably be next weekend by the time I get a chance with all the proving time required, argh!

I'm not sure how the pissaladiere would go down in my house, as olives and anchovies are almost universally black-listed by my boyfriend (but I adore olives!). I'll eat pretty much anything savoury once though, so I'm tempted to give it a go.

Curry Addict

looks great, ive been doing a lot of bread baking recently but not yet done baguettes.
did you mix with a mixer and if so what speeds and times did you use?

LaChatteGitane

Curry Addict wrote: »

looks great, ive been doing a lot of bread baking recently but not yet done baguettes.
did you mix with a mixer and if so what speeds and times did you use?

Yes, I used my Kenwood. About 10 minutes. My Kenwood has settings 1 to 6 with a min and max too.
For bread dough I always go slow, which means setting somewhere between 1 and 2.
Hope that helps.:)

Curry Addict

LaChatteGitane wrote: »

Yes, I used my Kenwood. About 10 minutes. My Kenwood has settings 1 to 6 with a min and max too.
For bread dough I always go slow, which means setting somewhere between 1 and 2.
Hope that helps.:)

perfect thats what i did, proofing now in the hot press

oscarBravo

I pointed Her Indoors at this, and - seeing as she loves olives and anchovies - she had to give it a go. Looks good:



I still haven't gotten around to making the baguettes, but I will. Probably this weekend, along with last week's cheese soufflé.

Honey-ec

Curry Addict wrote: »

looks great, ive been doing a lot of bread baking recently but not yet done baguettes.
did you mix with a mixer and if so what speeds and times did you use?

LaChatteGitane wrote: »

Yes, I used my Kenwood. About 10 minutes. My Kenwood has settings 1 to 6 with a min and max too.
For bread dough I always go slow, which means setting somewhere between 1 and 2.
Hope that helps.:)

I did it by hand, just in case anyone thinks you have to have a processor for this recipe The dough is actually a pleasure to handle; not at all sticky, but not too strong either. I find kneading dough quite cathartic, as long as it's not one of those horrifically wet ones that just glues your fingers together.

LaChatteGitane

oscarBravo wrote: »

I pointed Her Indoors at this, and - seeing as she loves olives and anchovies - she had to give it a go. Looks good:



I still haven't gotten around to making the baguettes, but I will. Probably this weekend, along with last week's cheese soufflé.

I am pleased someone is daring enough to try the pissaladière !
It looks the part and I hope Her Indoors enjoyed it.

Curry Addict

My baguettes worked out great and didnt last very long :pac:

thanks for the recipe!

LaChatteGitane

Curry Addict wrote: »

My baguettes worked out great and didnt last very long :pac:

thanks for the recipe!

You're welcome.

ps You dropped the chicken on the floor ! Remember the 5 second rule.

Malari

I made this on Saturday and the crusty bit was tasty but it didn't rise properly in the middle, so was too doughy. I used a 7g sachet of dried yeast and followed the instructions - maybe I didn't need to mix the yeast with water first? I don't have a breadmaker so kneaded by hand.

The dough rose, but not to the mushroom cloud extent of your picture

I also have a gas oven and set it to GM7.5.

LaChatteGitane

Malari wrote: »

I made this on Saturday and the crusty bit was tasty but it didn't rise properly in the middle, so was too doughy. I used a 7g sachet of dried yeast and followed the instructions - maybe I didn't need to mix the yeast with water first? I don't have a breadmaker so kneaded by hand.

The dough rose, but not to the mushroom cloud extent of your picture

I also have a gas oven and set it to GM7.5.

There can be any number of reasons why it didn't rise sufficiently.
Longer kneading time/less kneading time. Not kneading enough air into the dough.
Yeast too old (yes, even the dried stuff can get too old).
Not enough water added to the dough.
Not the right atmosphere for proofing (too hot or too cold and not enough humidity in the air)
Not giving the proofing enough time (especially in a cooler atmosphere).


The problem won't be the use of the starter as such (ie. the water/yeast mix), that should normally help the rising along.

Malari

That's some trouble-shooting checklist! I'll try to change things up a bit the next time.

Thanks

sdp

Fabulous bread, thanks LaChatteGitane, egg washed mine as was making scones for lunches, can't seem to waste anything
now they want these baguettes for lunches as well,:rolleyes:

Dizzyblonde

We were having spaghetti and meatballs for dinner last night so I made the baguettes. They were the nicest I've ever tasted and will be making them regularly.
My husband wanted to 'help' and he's a stranger to dough, so no points for guessing which one he rolled
[URL="[IMG]http://i45.tinypic.com/302tlba.jpg[/IMG]"][/URL]

LaChatteGitane

:cool: @ Dizzyblonde

Excuse me my lack of appearance here in the food & drink forums. I am packing up our belongings. Only one more week before we leave Belgium to return to Ireland.

See you after the move !

Dizzyblonde

Best of luck with the move LCG - see you on the 'other side'

Chronic Button

LaChatteGitane wrote: »

:cool: @ Dizzyblonde

Excuse me my lack of appearance here in the food & drink forums. I am packing up our belongings. Only one more week before we leave Belgium to return to Ireland.

See you after the move !

We've been missing you on this forum! Safe and happy travelling.

Dizzyblonde

I made the baguettes again tonight. Amazing