Hello my lords, ladies and gentlemen!
We at Nick Saraf's Foodlog would like to issue the following statement..
..before the upcoming episode.
This episode has been divided into 3 parts for your convenience.
And that is because, my Producers feel your attention span isn't good enough..
..for you to watch the episode at the full length at one go.
So why don't you just enjoy the first part!
Enjoy!
No, no French? I can't speak French!
No... Are you sure? Okay.
Well then!
Hello my lords, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Nick Saraf's Foodlog!
Last time we made a full English breakfast.
And this time, we are taking a trip across the channel.
To England's best friend, France!
They love each other so much, they fought a brilliant war for 100 years.
Well then...
So, the French Breakfast is very different from the English breakfast.
It's very light, buttery, flaky..
..and it is the second most popular breakfast in the world, commonly known as..
..the Continental breakfast.
So today we are going to make four popular French breakfast foods.
Tartine, Croissant, Pain au chocolat, Brioche
This is exactly how I am going to say the names of these things..
..because they are French!
I will not compromise my integrity and say it in any other way.
Deal with it.
So the first thing we are going to make is Tartine.
Tartine is nothing but a slice of bread with a layer of jam on it.
And for that, we are going to make the most famous and traditional..
..French bread, the Baguettes.
The Baguette is made of the two parts. The first part is called the Poolish.
Now this might sound how French people would say "Poolish"?
But it's not! It's just Poolish.
There is really no meaning to it so I really don't bother.
So for the Poolish you take equal quantities of flour..
..and water and you first sift the flour.
Now we add equal amounts of water to the flour.
So, that's 300 grams of flour and 300 ml of water.
Mix it up with a rubber or a silicon spatula..
..till it forms slight paste and then you add in about 12 grams of yeast.
Make sure you crumble the yeast well so that it's powdery.
Mix it all together to form nice little paste.
It should be pasty like this.
Let's cover it with a layer of cling film or plastic tightly.
The reason we do this, is so that there is no skin formed on top of the dough.
Wrap it up in plastic and leave it in a nice warm place for about 2 hours to rise.
So now that, this is risen more than twice it's size..
..it's time to put the rest of the dough in to make the Baguettes.
So for this we have about 645 grams of flour, 12 grams of salt..
..make a little well and add about 300 ml of water.
Now again just with one hand, I will mix it to form a paste.
And add 12 more grams of yeast.
Now that the dough has come together, we are going to again flour a surface.
And pour sticky dough on top.
And now we keep on Kneading this dough until it no longer sticks to my fingers!
If it still sticks to the surface dust it with some more flour.
This is a smart idea to do in a kitchen aid.
Then again, rather than by KitchenNick!
So another way of kneading a dough perfectly is by banging it hard on the table.
Now think of your worst possible enemies or conservatives..
..and just bang it hard on the table like this!
And then knead and bang!
Knead
Bang
Knead
Bang
I am going to stop now.
So now that my hands don't stick to the dough anymore..
..it's time to keep it to rise for another hour.
So, this time I am going to put it on a board.
And now we leave this in a corner to double in size.
Just like I double in size after a good meal.
So let's work with this over grown piece of dough.
Lightly dust it with flour so that it doesn't stick.
Nor that it will.
And now, we divide it into two.
There you go.
Let's take one.
The longer is it.
According to the traditional shape of the Baguette, it's slightly wider in the centre..
..and tapering towards the edges.
Second one that I have made is the even in all directions shape.
Now, that we have shaped these breads, they need about half an hour to prove.
So that is half an hour more glorious waiting time.
Now I am going to spray this with some water.
Make it nice and moist.
We are going to dust it with some flour.
And just brush off some of the excess one on this.
And the reason why we brush it with flour..
..is so that, when it's in the oven the crust doesn't burn too much..
..and the flour gets nice and toasted and it really gives this rustic bread feel to it.
It's really good!
After we have done this, we are going to give it a few slashes..
..to give it a traditional look.
Also what happens is, when you slash it, it gets cooked from the inside as well.
Now that this is done, it goes in the oven..
..for about 15 to 20 minutes at 230 degrees.
Baguettes are not cooked in preheated ovens.
They start in cold or room temperature oven.
And also, Baguettes are cooked with steam.
So what I have done is, I have put a case-roll dish with some water in it..
..and now I am going to put the Baguettes.
On the top as the oven temperature rises, there is going to be steam from here..
..from the boiling water and that is going to help cook the Baguette.
What we do is after about 20 minutes we take the steam out..
..and we cook it for another 5 minutes..
..and keep it in the oven as the temperature stops dropping.
That is what cooks a traditional, scrumptious Baguette.
And so we bake!
Time to cut the Baguette.
And now that we are done with the bread let's move to the next step.
So that was the end of part one!
What's up with the attention span now?
Do you wish to watch the second one?
Well, click on the link below.