Forgot to mention that I did make another loaf of bread.
Here's all that's left of it (and that's gone, now, too):
After my boss complained about a previous loaf, I radically reduced the amount of salt in the salt-butter-olive oil mixture that I painted onto the bread's crust. I think that was a good choice. It's a really good, idiot-proof bread recipe. I'm glad I stumbled upon it. And as I think I said before, once you look up "no-knead bread" on YouTube, you realize fairly quickly that almost every video is showing you pretty much this same recipe.
In a comment, Charles noted that the no-knead bread recipe was practically a focaccia. I have since looked up some focaccia recipes myself, and they are indeed very wet, high-hydration doughs like this no-knead dough. Baguettes, by contrast, require little water in their dough (although you may need to spray water into the oven right before the bake). I'm nowhere near ready to try to make baguettes, but I might try a focaccia sometime soon.
2 comments:
I still don't make baguettes. I've tried in the past, but I've never been able to get that combination of crackly crust and soft, fluffy innards. The soft innards aren't a problem--it's the crust that's the issue. What you really need to make good baguettes is a steam oven.
Although it occurs to me that maybe I should give baguettes a shot with my new oven, which is much better than my old one. I can put a pan filled with water near the bottom to create that steamy environment. As long as I remember to stand to the side when opening the oven door--the last thing you want is cloud of hot steam in your face.
I might try this recipe when I'm brave enough.
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