One of my favorite bread is Baquette. It reminds me on journeys, butter, cup of coffee, paper bag loosely wrapped around the baquette. Oooo yeah, and if it is Mom’s plum jam, a piece of cheese and a slice of ham around, I already have a vision of Eiffel Tower in front of me! This is how this beautiful form, color, smell, and taste of baquette affect me…. I hope you are less influenced by bread as me 🙂 !

Even homemade sourdough bread takes lots of your time to make it (and you really need time, passion, patience, right temperature all the time and really good will), it rewards much more. Crunchy crust, smell that comes from oven, bigger or smaller holes do not play a role, soft inside, heavenly taste just from water, salt and flour. And, I ask myself, why do we need all this 10 ingredients written with so small letters in stores? Homemade is best made, and if you do not have really good bakery around, it is worth to bake your own bread. If possible with starter, but it is ok to use conventional yeast. At least you will have homemade bread with much less as 10 ingredients.

Preferment:

20g active starter

40g Manitoba flour

40g water

Mix all ingredients and leave at room temperature over the night.

Main dough:

450g Manitoba flour

50g whole wheat

325g water

10g salt

Mix flour and water together with hand and let it rest for 2 hours at room temperature (autolyse). Add preferment, knead 4-5 minutes and let rest for 30 minutes. Add salt, knead 4-5 minutes and rest for 30 minutes.

In next 2 hours make 3 FS (fold and stretch), on the working surface or in a bowl where dough rest. Between each FS make 35-40 minutes pause.

Rest 60 minutes and make CF (coil fold) 3 times, in between rest 60 minutes. After last CF rest the dough 2 hours at the room temperature, after that overnight in the fridge.

In the morning take the dough from the fridge and rest 2 hours at the room temperature. Divide the dough in 3 pieces, form a boule (round ball), rest 1-2 hours. After 2 hours form baquette, cover and rest until oven is hot (preheat at 250 C for 1 hour, with baking stone if you have and the baking tray to cover baquette in first 15 minutes of baking)

Before you put baquette in oven, pour some flour at the top and score with razor blade 5-6 times. Slash each baguette quickly at a 45-degree angle 4 to 5 times along the loaf’s axis.

Carefully take hot baking tray from the oven, place baquette on the baking stone, cover with baking tray and bake 15 minutes covered, and 10 minutes (or until the crust is golden brown) without cover.

*Instead of baking tray as lid, you can bake with small pan in oven (preheat the pan with baking stone/ tray). Pour water in this pot once baquette are on the baking stone/tray. After 15 minutes, take out the pan with water.

-Croatian version-

Jedan od mojih omiljenih kreacija je svakako baquette. Podsjeća me na putovanja, omiljeni maslac i šalicu kave, papirnatu vrećicu lagano omotanu oko baquetta. Ehh, ako se nađe i mamin pekmez od šljiva, komadić sira i ne daj bože koja šnjita šunke, počne mi se priviđati i Eiffelov toranj :). Tako taj divan oblik, boja, miris i okus baquetta utječe na mene….nadam se da ste vi ipak malo manje povodljivi!

Kruh s domaćim kvasce ma koliko vremena oduzme (a bome vam treba vremena, strpljenja, pravilne temperature i volje) svaki puta nagradi višestruko. Ta hrskava korica, miris još iz pećnice, rupice veće ili manje nebitno, mekana sredina, božanstveni okus od samo vode, brašna i soli. I onda se pitam čemu onih dodatnih 10 sastojaka koji su navedeni sitnim, najsitnijim slovima u dućanima L. Domaće je domaće i ako nemate provjerenu pekarnicu, svakako se isplati zasukati rukave i ispeći svoje. Po mogućnosti s domaćim kvascem (u žurbi i kupovni prolazi).

Predtijesto:

20g aktivnog startera

40g manitoba brašna

40g vode

Pomiješati i ostaviti tijekom noći na sobnoj temperaturi.

Glavno tijesto:

450g manitoba brašna

50g punozrnog bijelog brašna

325g vode

10g soli

Prosijati obje vrste brašna i pomiješati s vodom te ostaviti da stoji na sobnoj temperaturi 2 sata. Potom dodati predtijesto, mijesiti 4-5 minuta i ostaviti pokriveno pola sata. Dodati sol, mijesiti 4-5 minuta i ostaviti pola sata pokriveno da miruje.

U naredna 2 sata napraviti 3 puta FS (fold and stretch), na radnoj plohi ili u zdjeli u kojoj tijesto stoji. Između 35-40 min pauza

Ostaviti da odmara 60 minuta te napraviti CF (coil fold) 3 puta, između ostaviti tijesto da 60 minuta miruje. Nakon zadnjeg CF ostaviti tijesto 2 sata na sobnoj temperaturi, a potom cijelu noć u hladnjaku.

Ujutro izvaditi tijesto iz hladnjaka i ostaviti na sobnoj temperaturi 2 sata. Potom izvagati 3 ista komada za baquette, formirati kugle i ostaviti da miruju 1-2 sata. Nakon 2 sata oblikovati baquette, prekriti i ostaviti da miruju dok se pećnica zagrijava.

Pećnicu s kamenom za pečenje i tepsijom kojom ćete prekriti baquette u prvih 15 minuta pečenja zagrijati sat vremena na 250 C. Prije nego stavite baquette u pećnicu, lagano i pobrašnite i zarežite 5-6 puta žiletom ili oštrim nožem. Žilet držite pod kutem od 45⁰, više horizontalno i pokušajte zarezati što brže.

Pažljivo izvaditi vruću tepsiju iz pećnice, staviti kruh na zagrijani kamen, poklopiti tepsijom i pecite 15 minuta poklopljeno, a potom 10tak minuta (ovisi o pećnici) dok ne dobiju lijepu boju.

*Umijesto tepsije koja ima funkciju kreiranja pare u prvih 15 minuta, možete koristiti manju posudu otpornu na visoke temperature. Zagrijete je na dnu pećnice zajedno s kamenom za pečenje (možete umjesto njega običan pleh za pečenje koristiti) te ulijete u nju vodu nakon što ste stavili kruh u pećnicu. Nakon 15 minuta izvadite posudu s vodom.