Baguette is the most traditional French bread, known as the king of bread by the French . It is called Baguette in French, which originally means a long gem.
The French have a special liking for baguettes, and the government even has a number of laws on baguettes. Not only do they strictly regulate the raw materials and minimum selling price of the baguette, they also stipulate the shape of the baguette. For example, the diameter must not be less than 7 cm and only odd number of cuts can be made on the baguette.
Here we will introduce why French baguettes need to be cut and the principles behind the cutting.
The correct incision can continuously release the internal pressure of the dough. The bottom stone plate of the dough receives heat from below, which vaporizes the carbon dioxide and water inside the dough into water vapor, which rises in the direction of the incision.
Because the oven sprays steam at the beginning, the surface of the dough is not hard, and it bursts perfectly under the impact of internal pressure.
How to cut a baguette?
The world bread champion teaches you 4 tips!
1. About the specific method of incision
When making bread frequently, especially French and European bread, the surface must be cut with a knife, but the cut has a great impact on the appearance of the bread. No matter how good the bread is, if the cut is not done well, it will also lead to an unsightly appearance.
How can you cut the bread properly?
To do this, you need to master the skills. First of all, the cutting edge of French bread is generally very particular. The cutting edge of French bread should break the skin but not the flesh. Beginners simply cannot master this skill. If they don’t cut it well, the bread will be broken.
Make 5 cuts on a 50cm baguette at a 20-degree angle. Each cut is 10cm long and the intervals are 2cm.
European bread is generally made according to the requirements of the bread knife edge, paying attention to the spacing and length of the knife edges, and how to make the knife edges crack better.
Many baking enthusiasts’ ovens do not have steam, so the blade will not crack during baking. You can squeeze butter on the blade after cutting the bread to make the crack look better.
Second, it is about the shaping of bread. The shaping is very important for the cut to burst open.
French bread is the most difficult bread to make. The dough itself does not contain oil and sugar. If you use too much force when cutting and rolling or when shaping, the knife edge of the French bread will have weak expansion force. Therefore, do not use too much force when cutting, rolling or shaping to keep the surface of the dough smooth .
The shaping process requires maintaining the carbon dioxide inside the dough as much as possible, and maintaining uniform shaping and thickness. The dough should be firm and smooth when pinched by hand, and be careful not to leave fingerprints.
Traditional baguette – recipe
formula:
French T65 flour: 1000g
Water: 680~700g
Salt: 20g
Yeast: 7g
Production process:
1. Stir French T65 flour and water together slowly for 2 minutes and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Add salt and yeast and stir quickly for 10 minutes.
2. Stir until the dough temperature reaches 25℃, ferment at room temperature for 60 minutes, turn over, and ferment for another 60 minutes.
3. Divide into 350g pieces, roll gently into balls, put into canvas and ferment at room temperature 25℃ for 60 minutes.
4. Gently deflate the dough and roll it into a long strip 30 cm long.
5. Ferment at room temperature 25℃ for 60 minutes.
6. Make a cut on the surface.
7. Set the oven temperature to 240℃ for upper heat and 230℃ for lower heat, spray steam for 5 seconds and bake for 25 minutes.
Haha, a long and standard baguette is out of the oven. Friends, go home and practice it yourself. Bye~
