On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 10:24:15 -0500, "Debbie" >
wrote:

>Kathy in NZ wrote:
>>> Yesterday I made two French Baguettes from a recipe in a Le Cordon
>>> Bleu cookbook I have.
>>>
>>> I have no idea how authentic it is, though my son has been making the
>>> same recipe for several weeks and reckons it's pretty much how they
>>> tasted in the month he spent in France. However, he tells me my
>>> baguettes are too fat.
>>>
>>> They were about 12 inches long, but it was hard to stretch the very
>>> elastic dough to shape them. When I read the recipe I thought it
>>> wouldn't work. It is just flour, yeast, water and salt, a very dry
>>> mixture. But it worked and it tasted great. I compared it with
>>> recipes on the Internet and that's all French baguettes seem to be
>>> -- no fat of any kind.
>>>
>>> Here's a pic of my finished bread. We had it with mussels, moules
>>> mariniere.
>>>
>>> http://i1.tinypic.com/mhaols.jpg
>
>When shaping, let them sit for a couple of minutes to relax the glutena and
>stretch some more. You will have a better result with getting the length
>you want.
>
>Debbie


Thanks for the responses. I realise my baguettes were too fat. It was
hard to stretch them.

And for Pandora, here's the recipe. The recipe says it makes 4 loaves.
My son makes 6 loaves from it, shorter loaves and thinner than my
ones.

I made a half recipe, of two loaves. Next time I'll do a half recipe
of three loaves, demi baguettes.

Here's the full recipe of ingredients, without instructions:

French baguettes
Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Edition
makes four 3/4 lb loaves

1oz fresh yeast or 1 tbsp dried yeat
5 cups bread flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp salt
2 1/2 cups water

I used my bread machine to mix the dough, then did the rest by hand. I
am keen to try another batch next weekend, to perfect them.

Kathy in NZ