making Baguettes or Bread sticks

I've been wanting to make Bread Sticks for ages now...as I only ever buy them if I see them marked down......I was excited when I accidentally found a link on how to keep your baguettes in shape while rising....If you scroll down a bit on the link, you will even see that someone has used a painters drop sheet to shape the bread.

I WAS looking for bread proving bowls made out of willow or cane....You know the ones that leave a lovely spiral in the crust of the bread? Yeah, they are sooo expensive, so I guess I will search for the materials and try to make them myself. 

Ok, back to the Baguettes or Bread Sticks as I know them.....The cloth you are need is called a Bakers Couche or a Couche Cloth....and they aren't cheap either....but after doing some research...all you really need is some Heavy Canvas.......the width of the baking tray you will use all the time. But don't cut the length, until you know how many rolls you can support on the chosen tray....I can tell you the measurements of my cloths though...

I looked up canvas in the phone book...and it was easy as there was only one in the book in our area....On the way home from taking mum to do some much needed clothes shopping..(DS19 had a rostered day off, so he pushed mum in the wheelchair today...It's far to far for her to walk in the shopping centres)........

Oh yeah...On the way home I went via Illawarra Canvas in Dapto....and after trying to explain on the phone what I wanted to do with a piece of canvas....the lovely gentleman there gifted me a piece of canvas................

I'm very fortunate, as I had enough canvas to make cloths for two trays both lengthways AND widthways...You'll see what I mean in a minute..(when I stop blabbing on)....

Onto the making......the fun part.
After cutting out the required length of canvas....make sure you flour it well...get in there and run it in. If you don't you run the risk of your dough sticking....a very high risk too............

To get the estimated length of the canvas...
I used my rolling pin as a guide to how big each baguette may be.
Laying the rolling pin down as I gathered up the canvas,
repeating until I ran out of room on the tray.

 To make the baguettes....you don't need to settle for store choice of either Sourdough or Plain White......BECAUSE you are making them yourself...you can use any recipe you choose to.

I made some really yummy Linseed, Soy & Almond bread rolls a while back and adapted that recipe by adding some roughly crushed sunflower seeds and also Pumpkin (Pepita) seeds..which I gave a quick bash with the mortar & pestle........

I wish I had found this website before rolling the Baguettes....I found the dough a bit hard to manage while trying to make a long roll.....but technique has never been my strong suit...so I just had a go....and the rustic look is what I was going for anyway...Honest!!

Measure each piece of dough to the same weight
This ensures you get even sized rolls at the end.

Below I am forming longer baguettes by using the length of the tray.
If you scroll down further, you will see where I also used the width of the tray for forming shorter baguettes or rolls in this case.

I was just able to fit 4 baguettes on the baking tray....to rise.

 AFter rising....look how puffy they are....by this time...I couldn't wait to see how they would turn out...
All in all, not a bad experiment so far.

see the magic..how plump they are....
and rustic! Oh...Artisan....that's the one.

Using a piece of grease proof paper...
slide the paper just beneath the dough

Gently roll the formed baguette onto the paper...
then move over to your baking tray.

Position the Paper sheet on the tray
and unroll the baguettes; back onto the tray. 

So you really roll the dough only half way...onto the paper....then back again....off the paper and onto the baking tray....be careful you leave enough room for heat to get around the baguettes......I did rise them all on the one tray...but for baking...spread them out over a few trays if the tray you use is full.
This way they bake nice and even all round.

Soy, Linseed, Almond, Sunflower seed & Pumpkin seed.
And rustic too....Ooops! Artisan...lol

4 seeded bread-sticks
and 6 rolls (short, fat bread-sticks)

Oh...the tray you rise them on needs to be a similar size to the one you bake on......No point rising a breadstick; only to find out it's too long to fit in your oven...That would make me mad. I just used the same trays.

Using a smaller loaf recipe of just plain white..I also made some rolls using the same technique...Only this time I used the width of the tray....

weighing each roll to ensure the same sized rolls.

see how I supported the canvas...my two trays were now in the oven baking 4 baguettes...
I sure hoped they came out before these finished rising.

keeping the warmth of the oven in...
I must build a fold-down shelf  above the stove...
to prove my breads on..(good idea nellymary)

 Taa Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!

Apart from about half of my housework list, and helping mum try on clothes for most of the day....this is what I accomplished....after I got back home.


Oh....sorry for the long post...but if  you have been following along...You'll probably know by now that I ramble a whole lot.

What did you get up to today?   Will you try making baguettes with your favourite bread recipe?

I'd love to hear about it. What do you think for a first go?