Hello friends and not yet friends,
You want to make these golden Vietnamese-style baguettes, with thin crispy crackly crusts
and fluffy insides?
Okay let's get started right away here on Mary's Test Kitchen.
Set your stand mixer bowl on your kitchen scale, hit the tare button, and add warm water.
310 milliliters or 10.8 ounces if you prefer American units.
Check that the temperature is above 105 degrees farenheit for good yeast activation.
But not above 110 because we don't want them to get over active and make the dough too alcohol-y.
Or worse yet, kill the yeast at even higher temperatures. That would be a crying shame.
Then, add a teaspoon of sugar to feed these helpful single-celled fungi.
By the way, I've tested this with instant yeast which technically,
you don't have to bloom like this.
However, I always do for demonstrations to show you what active yeast looks like.
And I recommend it because you never want to go through the whole process of making the dough
and the grief of your dough not rising and the stress of retracing your steps
and leaving an angry comment about how you followed the recipe to a "T"
only to sheepishly realize later that your yeast was dead to begin with.
You can probably use traditional active dry yeast too, not only instant. And
in that case, use the same amount or tiny smidge more.
After 5 to 10 minutes, it should look like this.
If it doesn't, do not pass go. You probably have to go buy new yeast.
But in most cases, you should be able to keep going by adding
510 grams or 18 ounces of bread flour.
My research over the years had me believing that light airy Vietnamese-style baguettes
must use low-gluten flour, maybe with rice flour mixed in. But it never worked out for me.
Only when I tried the opposite route, using bread flour which is higher in gluten,
did I get the texture I was going for.
In particular, I'm using Robin Hood Best for Bread Flour Homestyle White which is made of hard wheat;
100% Canadian Wheat.
I also tested with All Purpose flour and it did
actually make a satisfactory baguette. Like almost perfect but not quite there.
So keep that in mind as you use what you have.
Now with that layer of flour playing interference with the yeast, sprinkle over salt.
As usual, I'm using pink because it's pretty. But regular table salt or sea salt is just fine too.
Now let's take it to the stand mixer.
Pop in your dough hook to bring this together.
If you don't have a stand mixer or bread machine to help you, let's be real,
you're in for a workout.
Is that a pro? Is that a con? It's up to you.
Whatever you use, the dough will be all raggedly at first
but if you squeeze this together, it should stick.
Some parts might seem dry but that's normal.
Slowly ramp up the speed. The highest you can go
without your machine rocking too much or the dough getting flung out of the bowl.
For me, that's speed 4. And let it run for 10 minutes.
If you are kneading by hand, you can knead using the traditional kneading method.
And honestly, it will take two or three times longer.
I used to find this very relaxing. Back in the day when I made everything by hand in my early
twenties, from making bread to whipping mayonnaise even to sewing my own clothes;
it brought me such satisfaction.
And chronic tendonitis. So, you know, to each your own.
After 10 minutes or a great deal more time of manually kneading,
your dough should look like this.
It will be quite tacky and it might even stick to your hands somewhat.
It should look pretty smooth.
And be a little uptight. So we're going to let chillax.
Minus the chill. Ideally, your room temperature should be on the warmer side for this bread.
Cover it up for privacy while the yeast does its thing, eating the sugars, producing gases,
while all the gluten loosens up and molecules connect; for 30 minutes.
Afterwards, you can see how this puffed up. And the dough is softer than before.
And we're going to knead it once more, same as before.
Ramping up to speed 4 for about 10 minutes.
This is what it should look like by the end of ten minutes.
We've worked it pretty much to the edge of tolerance.
Now for the main proof, cover and let the dough sit there in a warm,
draft-free luxurious location for one hour.
It should puff up to about double to triple in size.
Don't you just want to squish it? Then go ahead!
Press out the big bubbles.
And take it out.
And weigh it.
Divide that weight into six even pieces.
And with each piece, I like to knead it a bit to
get rid of any gas pockets and form it into a nice neat ball.
Neatness is optional.
Cover the dough balls, then take a moment to fill your water kettle and turn it on.
You'll need some hot water soon.
Now, select the first dough ball that you made.
It will have relaxed the most, making easiest to roll out.
To create our baguette shape, roll up the long flat dough into a log while pinching the sides in.
Try to make it a tight roll.
And pinch all along the seam.
You want the outside to have some tension.
Then with your hands kind of arched over, so your ring and pinky fingers are holding the ends down,
roll the dough so the pinched seam gets smoothed down and you develop this baguette shape.
Thicker in the middle sloping to narrow tips.
And place it on your non-stick baguette pan with the seam side down.
Let's see that again.
In case you're wanting to get the same pan as me, which I quite like after buying two
others that weren't quite perfect, I have an affilliate link for it in the description box.
Otherwise, you can make your baguettes regular parchment lined baking sheet;
though I have to say, it's not quite the same.
And when you're going through this kind of effort, don't you want them to be perfect?
Anyways whatever pan you decide on, keep your shaped baguettes covered as you work on the rest.
Especially since I live in a dry climate, I want to prevent the
dough from forming a dry skin on top which will really mess with the way it rises.
In the past, I've used a damp, lint-free towel to cover rising dough
but in this case, I find plastic wrap works the best.
Cover it loosely so the baguettes can rise easily under there.
We also want to create nice humid environment for these
to rise so prepare a metal baking dish with a couple cups of hot water, just off the boil.
Then put this in your oven on the bottom rack.
Or put the pan in first and then pour the water. Yes, that's probably safer.
Then set the covered baguettes on the middle rack above and let them proof for 45 minutes.
Afterwards, carefully remove the pan of water, and the risen loaves as well.
And start preheating the oven to 475°F.
By the way, I'm assuming it's going to take 15 minutes for your oven to preheat
(like mine does) so if yours does take longer,
you can adjust the proofing time vs preheating time so the total is 60 minutes altogether.
Anyways, when your oven reaches temperature,
turn your kettle back on. You'll need some more water just before the loaves go in to bake.
Which by the way, don't they look beautifully puffed up?
Gorgeous. About double to tripled in size by now.
Carefully uncover them.
I find it usually comes away pretty easily and I can even
hang this plastic wrap up and use it again.
Spray the risen loaves with a fine mist of water.
And get a nice sharp nonserated knife. Preferablly freshly sharpened.
And moisten the blade with a spray or two too as well.
You can go across and do slashes like in my prevous seen
simple homemade french bread recipe which was actually based on grocery store quote
unquote french bread and then real french people got understandably upset about it.
But moving on.
You could also slash down the length at a bit of an angle for this lovely shape.
Now without any more delay, okay maybe stop to take an instagram picture or two
to record your handiwork for posterity.
Then spritz the loaves evenly with water.
Back to the oven, place a metal baking pan, and DO NOT UNDER
ANY CIRCUMSTANCES USE GLASS INSTEAD, and add 100 mls of hot water from the kettle.
And place the unbaked loaves on to the middle rack.
Give it a couple last second spritzes, then close the door.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. But definitely take a peek through the glass a couple minutes early.
The hot water underneath helps to make this humid oven create a nice crackly crispy crust.
But it will also evaporate completely before the bake time is up so the crust
will develop a lovely golden brown colour.
And listen to that!
(whisper)But whatever you do, don't grab a super hot and fresh baguette
and squish it with your bare hands.
ouch!
Steam escaped out the sides as I did that and burned me some.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.
Fluffy, pillowy clouds on the inside.
You will not be able to resist taking a bite.
Or two.
Or just demolish that first baguette all in one go.
I know I couldn't.
Just save some to take a picture and tag me on instagram so I can
also admire your handiwork! That would just make my day!
Maybe make yourself bahn mi sandwich as nature intended. Or anything else you like because these are
your golden brown, crispy, crackly, soft and fuffy Vietnamese style baguettes and there are no rules!
Tell me, what will you stuff inside your homemade
baguettes? I'd love to hear all about it in the comments below.
Thank you so much for watching my friends. Please give this
video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and subscribe if you haven't already for more
delicious recipes that hopefully didn't take as long to develop here on Mary's Test Kitchen.
Oh and feel free to leave a #reciperequest!
If you want more bread recipes, please check out my bread recipe playlist.
It goes real well with my vegan cultured cheese playlist too.
Bye for now!