chicken sandwich

I sure have been enjoying these baguettes around here lately. I cut into them then set them on the counter standing up, cut side down. They stay nice and crisp that way for the whole next day, and on the third day they begin their downward spiral to becoming tough and stale. By then there is only the butt end left. I cannot walk past one standing up like that without cutting off a slice or two, and there it goes, the whole baguette within the span of three days. Which beats the heck out of the baguettes you buy from the boulangère which go hard in less than one day. And all of that goes very far in explaining why the French have so many great ideas for stale bread. 

The most recent previous two baguettes here and here were made from a wet dough just short of 100% hydration, that is, equal parts water to flour by weight, but that isn't as extreme as it seems because I live in a near desert so whatever flour I have on hand is bone dry, presuming bones are dry. Probably dead bones that were sitting out in the desert sun for a few years and got all picked over by vultures and dried out, like in a Western movie.  Look, it's an expression, ah'ight? This dough is the first time ever that I insouciantly scooped out two packed cups of flour and blasted one full cup of hot water directly from the steaming tap. It actually took about 1/8 cup more water than what I originally measured. 

I am totally groov'n on using the Cuisinart to whip out the dough. It's fun and it's fast. Perfect for a small loaf like this. I hardly have time to clear out the components from the dishwasher and it's off again to another baguette. Hardly worth the effort of putting away the machine because I'm dragging it back out again within a couple of days.

The water came straight from the tap into a cup that held 1/3 teaspoon dry yeast in it, which I know by testing, the tap water can get up to 130℉ / 55℃, sufficient to kill yeast. I don't know what got into me, sometimes I'm just stupid that way. After a few minutes the yeast failed to show the beginning of activity as it usually does so I added another 1/3 teaspoon yeast. So there is the possibility of double the normal amount of yeast starting out. Maybe the first yeast was killed and maybe I was too impatient. Whatever the case, it worked out great. Ten hours or so later the dough was going full blazes, probably at peak activity. 

The dough was dumped out onto an oiled work surface because I'm tired of the wet dough picking up excess flour from being stretched and formed into a loaf on a floured surface. I wanted to keep this dough very VERY VERY wet (3 verys). 

The dough has thyme added to it this time. 

The floppy wet dough was baked in a clay cloche designed for baguettes. The cloche does the same thing as steaming up the oven chamber. Those two previous loaves mentioned earlier were steamed quite heavily because it's so doggone fun and dramatic. The resulting crust is excellent, but they both developed tiny blisters all over the entire surface, and that is unattractive. I think I am steaming up the oven too much, making it actually sopping wet inside  there. When I overturn a glass jar over the oven chimney exiting a back burner, it steams up and condenses immediately and rather heavily. It's surprising, actually. I think the trick is to back off from the steaming. :-(  I intend to persist with steaming, but not nearly as heavily. So there goes my fun. 

The cloche holds moisture long enough to produce impressive oven spring but it also produces a thicker crust on the final loaf than steaming the oven does. That is not necessarily desirable with these baguettes because it leaves hardly any crumb in the center since the diameter of the loaf is so narrow. 

So there's that. 

The chicken breast is sliced thinly while still partially frozen. It is seasoned absurdly heavily. This time with ground fennel seed included. You might not like it, but I sure do. Fennel seed tastes like licorice, not that great of a flavor on chicken by itself, but fantastic in combination. Its heavily aromatic nature becomes less like licorice as it imparts a breathy effect to whatever it's paired with. Wut? That's my description of fennel seed, and I'm stick'n with it. 

The chicken was started while the bread baked, but the photos are shown here in separate sequences for clarity as if the loaves were finished before the chicken started. Double-tasking, as it were. Eventually the two activities come together in one glorious unified whole, which is actually three smaller glories in the form of small canapé sandwiches. The neat-o thing about baguettes is you get to have three sandwiches instead of just one and not be a big ol' pig. Like sliders. 

ARTS !

I love it when a plan comes together.