Baguette

Not every bakery product can boast that it is not only known all over the world, but has also become a real national emblem. A golden baguette, long and narrow, with a crispy crust and a delicate airy crumb, is the same symbol of France as the Three Musketeers, artists in Montmartre and Notre Dame Cathedral. Almost no meal in France is complete without a hot baguette; a visit to the bakery before breakfast in the homeland of Alexandre Dumas is an unshakable tradition.

Historical information

There are several versions of exactly how the first baguette was “born”. So, one of the theories says that its “inventor” was a businessman from Austria, August Tsang. He became famous by opening the first steam bakery in the French capital in 1839. Bread was baked on bricks heated by natural gas. It was thanks to Tsang that the first croissants appeared in Paris – however, then they were called “kipfel” and were positioned as traditional Viennese pastries. Some historians suggest that “lanky” bread was also first baked in the bakery of an enterprising Austrian – among its assortment there were elongated loaves, in the preparation of which not ordinary yeast, but beer yeast was used.

There is another rather strange version, which says that the long loaf is the idea of ​​​​Napoleon’s bakers. The emperor gave them a task – to come up with such bread that soldiers could comfortably carry with them during hiking. As a result, the bakers allegedly baked a long thin baguette, which the soldiers were asked to put in a narrow pocket that goes down the entire leg. Certain doubts that this theory is true arise if you try to imagine in what form the unfortunate pastry will be after the very first day of the journey.

The baguette in its modern form began to be sold in Paris after the First World War. Its appearance in the assortment of French bakeries was associated with the struggle of workers for their rights.

The thing is that the preparation of ordinary pastries – high round bread – was an extremely laborious and time-consuming process. First, the yeast dough was kneaded, then it had to stand and rise. As a result, in order for the residents of the French capital to be able to buy fresh pastries for breakfast, bakers had to start their working day late at night, around two in the morning. Outraged bakers staged protest actions, which resulted in the passage of a law in 1919, according to which bakers were forbidden to start working before four in the morning. With a few hours left before the bakeries opened, they were just in time to bake the baguettes. The technology for preparing this type of bread took much less time – a long narrow loaf was low, the dough quickly rose.

In the eighties of the last century, the baguette “lost ground”. Customers complained that the bread was not very convenient to carry, and besides, it becomes stale too quickly. Trying to find a way out of their situation, some bakeries began to use a simplified technology for baking bread, as a result of which production became cheaper, but the taste was spoiled.

On September 13, 1993, the cabinet of ministers of Edouard Balladur adopted the so-called “bread” decree, which established clear standards for the production of “traditional French baguette”. It noted that only four ingredients were needed to make this bread: water, grain flour, brewer’s or regular yeast, and salt. Bread, which included other ingredients, automatically lost the right to bear the proud name of “baguette”.

It is noteworthy that after bakeries returned to using the traditional recipe, the popularity of baguettes began to grow.

Manufacturing technology

The classic recipe for making a French baguette, approved by the same decree of the Cabinet of Ministers, looked like this: a dough of water, flour and yeast had to stand in a warm place for twenty minutes. After that, salt, water and flour are added. The dough is kneaded for ten minutes, then it is infused for about forty-five minutes. Long thin loaves are formed, three cuts are made on each, after which they stand under a damp cloth for about forty minutes in order to rise properly. Bake baguettes in the oven for a quarter of an hour.

Traditional Characteristics

Curiously, the baguette is one of the few representatives of the realm of bakery products that can boast a clear “external standard”. So, it should be from five to six centimeters wide, three to four centimeters high, reach sixty-five centimeters in length, and its weight should be about 250 g.

They check the quality of the baguette by pressing the crust with a finger for a second. If the bread is baked according to all the rules, then it will quickly take its original shape and the dent will disappear.

Today, the constant competition between producers of ordinary white bread and baguettes has led to the fact that bakers specializing in “lanky” loaves show real miracles of ingenuity and constantly delight customers with new varieties of this pastry. On sale in the French capital you can find a baguette with sesame seeds, a spikelet-shaped baguette (baguette épi), a rustic baguette (baguette de campagne) and even a “thread” baguette (ficelle), which differs from the usual one in that its thickness is only two – three centimeters.

Special competition

For the past twenty years, an annual competition for the best baguette has been held in Paris. Professional bakers showcase their skills as they strive to win a cash prize as well as the title of baguette purveyor to the presidential family. The bakers approach participation in the competition very responsibly, because for a whole year the winner will not only supply bread to the presidential palace, but will also attract crowds of “ordinary” customers, because everyone will want to taste the bread that the head of state eats himself.

The composition and useful properties of the French baguette

The energy value of 100 g of baguette is 262 kcal. The indicated volume of the product contains 7,5 g of proteins, 2,9 g of fats and 51,4 g of carbohydrates. The fiber index is 2,2 g, and sugar – 4,62 g.

Interesting Facts

A lot of interesting facts are connected with the French baguette. Here are just a few of them:

1. Cutting a baguette is not accepted. It is broken, and then cut in half with a knife and smeared with butter and jam. Real gourmets have mastered the art of dipping a baguette with butter and jam crust in coffee – they believe that this is the only way to fully reveal the taste of this bread.
2. Baguette almost prevented the launch of the legendary Hadron Collider. After the temperature began to rise in one of the installation compartments, the launch was urgently interrupted. After examining the problem area, scientists found a piece of baguette there. It is believed that it was brought inside the collider by a bird. However, there is another version: that some of the scientists had a snack right at the workplace.
3. During the period of a sharp decline in the popularity of “lanky” loaves, fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier released a special collection of bread outfits aimed at popularizing the baguette.
4. Today, about 500 baguettes are baked in Paris every day. More than ten billion baguettes are baked and eaten throughout France every year. This means that on average, one compatriot Alexandre Dumas has a baguette for two days.

Противопоказания

Note, despite its popularity and wonderful taste, the baguette cannot boast of special health benefits. Like any other bread made from premium flour, it is high in starch and contains mostly “empty” calories. Nutritionists believe that those who are too fond of baguettes run the risk of acquiring malfunctions in the digestive tract, endocrine and cardiovascular systems, and even cancer.

It is extremely important to “combine” the baguette and other products correctly. This bread is categorically not combined with fatty and smoked “snacks”.

How to bake a french baguette

You can cook a French baguette, which in terms of its taste will not be inferior to the “overseas”, at home. To do this, you will need the following ingredients: half a kilogram of flour, 350 ml of cold water, 25 ml of heated water, 5 g of dry yeast, a heaping teaspoon of salt.

Also, prepare the flour for shaping the loaves and for dusting the baking sheet.

First step: kneading the dough

Mix dry yeast and 2 tablespoons flour in a bowl. Pour warm water into it. Put the dough in a warm place. After about twenty minutes, it should double in size.

Pour the remaining flour into a container with a volume of about three liters, add salt and dough. Start mixing thoroughly, gradually adding cold water. If you are using a mixer, then set it to the slowest speed.

Knead the dough for about ten minutes. You can move on to the next step when the dough completely separates from the sides of the bowl, but still feels slightly sticky to the touch.

After that, put the dough on the board and cover with a towel. After twenty minutes, when it has risen, knead it again, carefully wrapping the outer edges inward. Repeat this procedure three times.

Now form a tight ball. Put it in a bowl previously greased with refined sunflower oil. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for twenty hours. After that, take out the dough and divide it into three or four parts – depending on whether you will bake long or short baguettes.

Cover the dough again with cling film and leave for an hour.

The second stage: we form baguettes

Knead each of the pieces of dough into a rectangular layer of the required length. Its thickness should be approximately one centimeter. Roll it into a tight roll along the long side. Fix the ends by giving them a pointed shape.

Put the bread on a baking sheet, pre-lubricated with vegetable oil and sprinkled with flour. Cover the bread with a slightly damp towel. Now it should stand for about 45 minutes until it has approximately doubled in size. When this happens, with a sharp knife, make oblique notches on the baguettes, the depth of which should be approximately one centimeter. Then sprinkle the blanks with flour, lightly sprinkle with water and send to the oven.

Third step: bake the baguette

The oven should be preheated to 220-230 degrees. Before placing a baking sheet in it, place an enameled bowl of water there. As a result, your baguettes will acquire an even golden crust that will be thin and crispy. Remove the water container ten minutes after the start of baking and immediately reduce the temperature to 180 degrees. There is another option – before baking, spray the walls of the oven with a spray bottle. During the baking process, repeat this procedure again, and then reduce the temperature.

Baguettes should be baked for twenty minutes. Cool the finished bread without covering it with a towel so that the crust does not soften.

There is one more little secret – if you want your baguette to turn out to be flavored, five minutes before the end of the baking process, brush the crust of bread with melted butter, to which garlic is added, passed through a press and any aromatic herbs.