The Quick French Baguette

There are few things so wonderful as a couple of hot, steamy, crispy, crunchy, crackly, tasty, tender, french inspired baguettes.  Sadly, in order to attain this nirvana you've had to start days ahead.  I don't know about you but I'm never inspired enough to think of something 3 days before I'm going to want to eat it, also I don't have that sort of patience.

I have this delicious go-to on days that I'm home and feel the need for some crispy crunchy tender warm deliciousness that needs to be slathered with cold butter, have a slice of old cheddar on it and a large glass of wine.  Go on, I'll share it with you.  It's a different creature all together than my go-to ciabatta that I make a couple of times a week, this is thicker, heartier, softer and harder at the same time.  This takes about 4 hours but you only need be involved a small percentage of the time, it merely needs you to pop in periodically to check on it and voila, you're a bread producing rock star! 

Tracy's One Day Cuisinart Baguette

in a small bowl, combine: 

2 1/4 tsp yeast

1/2 cup warm water

mix with a fork and leave it aside to foam and bubble and do it's yeasty thing. 

In the bowl of a cuisinart (fitted with the blade) combine: 

3 1/2 cups a/p flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 Tablespoon sugar (OK already purists, sure a "proper" baguette doesn't have sugar but this isn't a proper baguette, it's my quicker, lovelier, tastier distant cousin)

Add 1 cup of warm water to the bubbly yeast, stir and add in a gentle but steady stream into the cuisinart as it blends.  Let it go until the mixture comes together in a blob and clears the side of the bowl, 30-45 seconds? 

Replace the feed tube and walk away.  When the dough has risen to fill the bowl (1 hour) pulse the dough 4 times to deflate.  When the dough has risen to fill the bowl (45 mins this time) pulse the dough 4 times to deflate.  When the dough has risen to fill the bowl (35 mins) pulse once to deflate and remove to a lightly dusted (with flour) board and bring together in a loose, soft, ball.

Divide dough into 3 and shape each into a long baguette shaped loaf.  I lay mine on a floured towel to rise about 30 minutes. 

Bake at 450 on a stone in a heavily steamy oven.  Put a container of water in the oven while it heats and mist the loaves before you bake them, about 20-28 minutes. 

Leave on a rack to cool for as many minutes as you can stand.  Rip into it. 

Make more.  Repeat

Here's the beauty shots and play by play: 

  

  

  

After one hour, look at the rise!  Pulse to deflate and leave it 45 minutes or until it fills the bowl
 

Rise number 2, very full bowl, again pulse a couple of times to deflate
 

Last rise.  Each time it takes less time, this was 35 minutes.


Tip it onto a board, you can see it's gooey and wants to stick to your hands, keep the flouring light, we don't want to make heavy bread, just barely enough to keep it from sticking. Bring it together as a lovely soft ball and divide into 3
  

Flatten each ball to an oval, fold the top third down and pinch, the bottom third up and pinch.  Press the heel  of your palm into the seam to seal it and pull up the sides to pinch together.  Roll it back and forth a few times, taper the ends a bit and leave it covered, on a floured surface, to rise while the oven heats.
  

    

  

I was trying to be artsy and left this batch to rise on a floured towel, it worked great but if you don't feel like trying to wash the flour out of a towel, you can just leave it to rise on any old floured surface.  I let it rise 45 minutes and it got puffy and wobbly, we love puffy and wobbly. 

 

Bake until it's beautiful, 20-28 minutes, leave to cool on a rack for a bit and either rip it open or cut it, your call but either way, you're gonna love this!!!
  

these are purely beauty shots :)
  



/enjoy!

Peach Crisp

Springtime in Texas means peaches.  Peaches everywhere.  Fredericksburg, Texas, boasts some of the best in central Texas.  There is peach everything as far as the eye can see.  People set up booths all along the roadside for a couple of months, it's hard to avoid them. 

I wish I liked peaches.  I really do.  I try.  Every year I buy some, eat some and am thoroughly underwhelmed.  Husband loves them, well likes them, he doesn't 'love' any food.  I won't even go into how hard it is to be a foodie, have a foodie son and a husband who merely eats to stay alive and never says anything other than a deadpan 'cool' for everything I present now matter how many hours went into it's creation.  But I digress, we're here to talk about peaches. 

We had a day out with my dear friends who live in Fredericksburg last weekend and stopped at a local farm on the way back into Austin to buy peaches.  Husband has been eating them up, neither son nor I are fans, but came to me last night and ASKED ME TO MAKE SOMETHING.  I thought I would pass out from the shock.  He asked me if I could make something with the peaches as they were starting to get "a little soft".  I smiled sweetly and said sure, I can come up with something. 

I thought to myself that if I didn't like peaches off a tree then maybe I would like peaches out of the oven.  I was absolutely correct there!  I have tried the crisps and cobblers in restaurants and buffets but the peaches are always overcooked and slimy and the topping soggy and limp.  Nope, husband wants peach crisp and i'm going to make the best one on earth. 

Oh and before we go any further; worry not, I did!! Here's the recipe if you just want to grab it and not bother with the beauty shots: 

9 peaches, peeled

1/2 cup quick cook oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

tablespoon cinnamon

teaspoon salt

splash vanilla

couple of grates of fresh nutmeg

1/4 cup butter

Peel the peaches.  Squish 3 between your fingers and lay the goo in the bottom of a lightly buttered dish.  Slice the rest of the peaches and lay them on top of the squashed peach flesh.  This lets some of the peaches cook away and release more juice and leaves some with a firmer texture and the combination makes for one hell of a fantastic peach crisp. 

Mix the oats, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, vanilla together and knead in the butter.  I do it on a board and form a log with it and then bread off chunks of it to mostly cover the crisp.  Put on sheet pan and bake at 375 for 45 minutes. 

Enjoy warm with cream, ice cream or custard. 

Here's the play by play: 

Make a small 'x' slit in the bottom of the peach and drop them into boiling water for 45 seconds or so.  Plunge them into ice water immediately.

   

The skin will slip right off.  Then run a knife around them, split them open with your thumb and remove the pit.

    

Oh look at these blushing beauties, sometimes a naked peach is a pretty sexy thing.      

Lightly butter a dish and squash 3 of the peaches between your fingers to break them up small, this will allow them to cook faster and softer than the rest and they'll exude delicious juice without making the whole thing slimy and soggy.

 

Slice the remaining peaches and lay them on top.

  

Combine the topping ingredients then knead in 1/4 cup of butter on a board until they make a log.  Crumble the log over the peaches making sure some poke through, we want rustic comfort food here.

  
  

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.  The smell is amazing.  The topping is crisp and flavorful.  The peaches still have texture but are soft enough to explode juice with every mouthful.  The peaches at the bottom make a delicious juice you can top your crisp with.  Yes, this works nicely!
    

You can serve yourself up a spoonful of peach and crisp or you can cover it in a spoonful of that delicious, slightly thicked, peachy, juicy goodness...  No slimy overcooked peaches here.  Go.  Make this.  They're everywhere!

   

Now, go find some Fredericksburg peaches and have yourself a crisp!!  

/enjoy