Powerless Baguettes
Powerless Baguettes: Not pretty but quite tasty.
April 10, 2013
A couple days ago, my wife pointedly remarked that there were only two baguettes left in the freezer. This was a fair warning, so I built up a liquid levain and made a batch of SJ SD dough. This afternoon, I divided, pre-shaped, proofed, slashed and loaded 4 baguettes in the oven. The timing was perfect to have them out of the oven in time to get to the farmer's market when it opened and then to enjoy fresh-baked baguette with dinner.
Eight minutes into a planned 20-minute bake, our power went out. The oven is electric. What to do? Well, I removed the steaming skillet as usual at 10 minutes. At 20 minutes, the loaves were browned somewhat, but still pretty pale. I gave them another 7 minutes in the cooling oven, at which point they were still rather pale but had a nice hollow thump and were over 205ºF internally. So, I took them out and let them cool.
The oven spring seemed pretty normal. The bloom was a bit crazy, but I don't know whether that was my scoring or an effect of the cooling oven after the first 8 minutes. The crust was pale and kind of soft, but I can't say the crumb structure suffered.
The crust did have some crispness but was more chewy. The crumb was fully baked. It was chewier than usual. The flavor was excellent – about the same as the last SJ SD Baguette bake, currently featured on the home page. I ate half a loaf with dinner.
David
Comments
I guess it's good your oven retains its heat rather well. Just put on some sunglasses and they will look perfect :)
Power outage!
Consolation...Blond baguettes are the new in thing in France :)
I wonder if you could have just finished baking them bolder. Later after the power came back on. You know like the bread or 'rolls' you see in the store that are partially baked and you finish baking them at home. Darn, wish you would have saved one to let us if it worked... maybe next time for a par-baked baguette, warm for dinner.
Great looking crumb and I'm sure very tasty.
Sylvia
Maybe it's still not to late...unless you ate them all. Just pop one into a very hot oven and brown it up.
Sylvia
I usually thaw frozen baguette by heating for about 7 minutes in a 375 dF oven. My plan is to just thaw these for longer to get a darker, crisper crust. Maybe a hotter oven for these.
David
Lovely crust and crumb, David!
A slice in the toaster will rectify the crust texture.
Actually, I finished one baguette as French toast this morning. Very good. See my response to Sylvia, above.
David
Heroic rescue. Then again, between you and dabrownman, do I detect a trend in exploring descending oven temps during bakes? Always new ground being tilled up @TFL.
"Only two baguettes in the freezer.". Omg. Call 911. :-)
Tom
I don't think so. On the other hand, their response time is faster than mine.
David
Awesome job making great baguettes in less than optimal conditions! Have to admit, I was very curious to see what was meant by "powerless" baguettes :) Also had to smile that having two baguettes in the freezer amounted to a dire shortage.
I have worked hard to spoil my spouse. She's had some gut issues this past week and has been on a low-fiber diet, so no seedy or whole grain breads. She's been on a bit of a baguette binge. Fortunately, I really enjoy making baguettes and really enjoy her enjoying them.
David
Karin about DaPumperizing baguettes just a couple of days ago and then you manage to pull off some really fine ones without even thinking about it or trying! I'm convinced that if King David (as my apprentice calls you after this bake) lived in the AZ summer sun, you could take a lump of retarded San Joaquin dough and just toss it willy nilly out the window of a fast moving car and onto the hot sidewalk, using it as a baking stone, to make better looking and tasting baguettes than almost anyone except Empress Ying!
Because of this, now my apprentice really wants to DaPumperize bagels but will wait for her idol to show her how to do it in an inventive way, say .....by using sparklers and setting dental floss on fire with with a pen laser or some such thing :-)
That was some great powerless baking and some good timing on the temperature reducion schedule too David.
Gosh David, you can produce better baguettes than me even when you have a power failure! At least it's my fault (or we've been robbed) if our oil-fired Aga goes off :)
So, Susan wanted a sandwich on baguette for lunch. I took one of yesterday's "Powerless Baguettes" out of the freezer. I put it in a 450 dF (convection) oven for 7 minutes.
The crust browned nicely - a bigger improvement in reality than this photo shows. It was wonderfully crispy. The crumb was as moist and, if anything, more tender than the fresh-baked baguette we ate last evening. It made delicious sandwiches.
In case you are wondering, I do not plan on baking baguettes this way again. However, it is nice to know they can be rescued in this fashion.
David
Awesome baguettes before and after the 2nd bake. The crumb looks very nice, and as you said moist. They had everything going for them to have revived so well.
Ray
...Gorgeous! I just learned by reading your post that I can freeze a loaf and then reheat! (Sorry, I am still a beginner baker... and have been exploring gluten-free baking recently as well...)
From the pictures alone, no one can probably tell they were "powerless" baguettes. COOL!
Adia