First the bread. The bread was started the night before. The aim is for a long thin baguette of no more than two cups of flour maximum. Two cups of flour generally weighs 8 oz. and so does one cup of water. This flour is not sifted and not weighed so it could be different from that. No matter. So 3/4 cup of water is 6 oz, but that is irrelevant. The point is 3/4 cup of water will hydrate 2 cups of flour to 75% by bakers measurements where flour is expressed as 100%
MATHS !
3/4 cup of hot tap water starts off 1/3 teaspoon dry active yeast separately from 2 cups flour that is scooped and dumped directly into a processor along with 1 teaspoons kosher flake salt and 1/2 teaspoon thyme. The processor sifts the scooped unweighed flour so you can see that a margin of error is built right in. Within a few minutes the water with its yeast is added through the feed tube while the processor runs. It takes the whole 3/4 cup but the dough still does not pull from the side of the bowl. Another 1/4 cup hot water is measured, half of that is drizzled slowly through the feed tube until the dough pulls away from the side of the processor's bowl. The dough continues to process for less than one minute. Ta-daaaaa, done.
3/4 cup water + 1/8 cup water = 7/8 cup water. Just 1/8 cup water short of 100% hydration, and that is an awful lot of hydration. The thing is, Denver is so dad-gum dry.
The bowl is covered with cling film and set aside. Life continues apart from the dough. Cities erupt in protest. Across the globe other cites are overtaken by tidal waves while across an ocean still other cities are put on high alert, but the yeast that was awakened within the warm ball of dough remain oblivious to all these events and do what yeast cells do. Night falls. The night creatures of the outside world become active while the day creatures retire. Great tragedy and loss rages across the globe dramatic events unfold throughout the night while the yeast in their heavenly dough ball persist slowly with their quiet activity buffered by the presence of salt. Eventually, in turn the night creatures retire and the day creatures again become active. By then the yeast within the dough has reached its peak and settled. It is finally seen to and it looks like this ↓.
Well, it's expanded then, innit.
The dough is stretched like a pizza firmly but gently then folded in thirds. The wetness of the dough is assessed especially its surfaces, deemed slightly too dry, so the baker's hands are moistened with tap water and that dampness carried over to the flattened dough and transferred to its surface and then folded in thirds again, but this time in the same direction as the first time instead of counter to the first direction of folds, in order to initiate a stretched shape for a baguette instead of a rounded shape for a boule, but not so long that it cannot be stretched further because part of making a baguette is stretching the dough as if playing an accordion. With a wet dough, this stretching action helps the formation of large irregular internal holes.
The baking tray is covered with a lidless plastic storage container which happens to fit the tray perfectly.
A few hours elapse, which for this second rising is a long time.
The loaf, tray and all, is baked at high temperature. Water is drizzled into the hot oven through the oven's own secret chimney which escapes through the center of the right rear burner. This is a kitchen hack of the first order in the finest tradition of kitchen hackery. The oven was not designed to do this, but do so it does. With the oven light on, the water can be seen on the oven floor through the oven's front window. More water is spilled through when the puddle is boiled off. This continues for 10 minutes, which for a loaf this thin is half the baking time at that high temperature. The advantage of this hack is instant steam without having to open the oven door to spray the interior. The result is an incredibly thin delicate crunchy crust that rivals any baguette anywhere in the world.
Of course it is not a proper baguette. Too thick for that and not long enough to be an official baguette, although there is no actual official baguette, still it is more of a baton or a bâtard, but for me, for my purposes and by my oven this is my baguette. So say I, and around here that is all that counts. Plus it is really good.
Bread baking books always tell you never to cut right into a freshly baked loaf of bread because the cooking process continues for some time after the loaf is removed from the oven, but nobody ever listens to that advice. Not me.
I am presently out of cream cheese. I do have plenty of other cheese and I will have it with this bread before the bread goes old by the end of the day, but not now with this smoked salmon. I wondered if I could whip up cream and make it savory instead of sweet. I pictured it. If the cream was whipped to near butter. Salt and Pepper, coriander and cumin added. Would that be too much for whipped cream? Let's try it.
It's a little bit weird being fluffy, but I like it.
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