Eagle View, and a recipe for Baguette Tradition

On most Tuesdays, you will often find me mixing up a batch of French baguettes. After a thorough search, I’ve finally found a recipe that reasonably duplicates the baguettes from my favorite bakery in Paris, France. In French, they are called “baguettes tradition,” which means that by law they are made with only four ingredients: flour, water, leavening and salt. Usually, this also means that they are made in-house at the bakery and that they have some sourdough in them as well. I prefer them to the regular baguettes because they hold so much more flavor. 

Making this recipe takes time. It includes making a sourdough starter the night before, allowing one hour of rest after mixing just the flour and water the next morning, adding the other two ingredients to make the final dough and kneading it, letting the dough rise another hour, cutting it  and letting it rest for a half hour then shaping it and another two hours or so of rise before the baguettes go into a very hot and steamy oven. I often start the dough when I wake up and start baking the baguettes by lunchtime. It’s worth it for the outcome. Good food requires time!

During the two hour bread rise, I often take a break to do yoga or take Sadie, the pup, to Fidler’s Pond. On this particular Tuesday, the sun shines in a clear sky even though the air is chilly. Sometimes the wind can really blow across the pond when you are walking out there. Even so, we bundle up and hop into the car for the five minute ride to Fidler’s. I try to match Sadie’s excitement as she takes off to sniff and stretch her legs. I even run alongside her for a bit. We stop at the swinging bench to wait for Jim. Sadie sits and scans the water for ducks. I take in the soft ripples in the deep blue pond and the waving grasses. Out of the corner of my left eye, I see a dark blot suddenly rise up. Sadie has seen it also. It’s Fidler’s sometime resident bald eagle. Jim sees it too. Early on, it notices us and  careens towards us then abruptly lifts away. Sadie is as mesmerized as we are. Maybe she somehow knows that as an apex predator, the eagle belongs at the top of the food chain. For the next five minutes, we follow its flight as it swoops down or smoothly glides like it’s spelling out a message to us in the sky. Or looking for its next prey. Finally, it settles in a bare-branched tree. We marvel at its size, at its unerring flight, at its so-wide wingspan. Slowly, we trace our steps back to the car. Even though we both had our phones in our pockets, we were too absorbed to even think about taking a photo!

Back home, it’s time to set the oven temperature to a hot 475°, slash the design into the tops of the baguettes, slide them on the pans and bake them. As the specific scent of baking baguettes fills the house, I feel fortunate to have taken that twenty-five minute break to go to the park. It reminds me that time taken is not wasted.

Here’s the recipe for the baguettes if you have the time to make them!

BAGUETTE TRADITION

*This recipe requires that you already have a sourdough chef in your fridge.*

The night before, mix in a small bowl:

1/3 c. rye flour

1/3 c. all-purpose flour

1/3 c. sourdough

2/3 c. warm water

Let sit and bubble overnight.

The day of, mix well in a larger bowl:

4 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/3 c. warm water

This will be a very stiff dough but there should not be any dry spots. If there are, add a tiny bit of water as needed. Let sit covered with a damp cloth for an hour.

After an hour, add to the dough:

1/2 c. starter

1/2 t. yeast

Mix in with hands. Then add:

1 1/2 t. coarse sea salt

Mix in and knead for 7 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth. The dough might be sticky. Use a dough scraper if needed to manage the dough. It will become a smooth ball.

Flour a dishcloth and place the ball of dough on one side, folding the other half over the dough. Let rise 1 hour.

Cut into 3 pieces. Shape into balls. Leave on the counter, covered, for 30 minutes. Then shape into baguettes. Place the shaped baguettes on a floured cloth, separated by ridges. See above photos.

Let rise for 2 to 3 hours, covered with a cloth, until they are doubled and puffy.

Preheat oven to 475° with a metal pan on the bottom shelf. Move baguettes to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Right before baking, make slashes in the top of the baguettes. Then carefully pour 1/2 c. water on the pan in the bottom of the oven. And place baguettes pan in oven.

Bake for 13 minutes, then rotate pan front to back and bake for another 13 minutes. Remove from oven and let baguettes cook on a rack.

Enjoy!