Series 6, Episode 3, Baguettes

Before making these baguettes I thought I was going to have another ciabatta disaster like series 5 bread week, so was very careful with reading this recipe (mostly). Here it is https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/paul_hollywoods_55351

The first step was easy because there was no kneading – it was all done in a free standing mixer. I was supposed to use a square tub to prove the dough in but didn’t have one. Here’s the before and after of the dough being proved:

The next issue was that I was supposed to used a linen couche to help to shape the baguettes. I don’t have a linen couche but decided that a clean pillow case would probably do the job, it’s not quite the bed sheet used for the povitica I made (another series 5 classic), bit still slightly unusual. I felt that it worked quite well to hold the baguettes together, here are the before and after proving photos:

My photos aren’t great, I’m not a photographer, you’ll just have to believe me when I say that they’d risen quite well.

Here are all four of them after coming out of the oven:

They were slightly more flat than I would have liked them to be… more like a ciabatta than a baguette (I guess I can make ciabatta after all). They had a good crust on them though and here’s what the insides looked like: