Boulangerie

If you have ever been to France you know the alluring smell of freshly baked bread, hot out of the oven. For those who have only been to France in their imagination, you probably envision men, women, and children alike walking down the street with a baguette under their arms. That is definitley not just in your imagination. It's everyday life here. There are people all over France right now walking around with a fresh baguette.

Tonight, I was one of those people. Having just come out of the oven, the baguettes were so hot that they kept me warm the whole way home. In fact, I treasured them so much that when it began to rain I held them tight as if they were my newborn child, and I was in a war zone and not in the middle of the paradise called Paris.

You may be asking yourself why in the world I cared so much about these "run of the mill" baguettes that you can buy on almost every corner. Well, because I spent five hours making them, that's why! Today was our first Boulangerie class. It was so much fun to learn how to make bread the tradional way the French do. I also learned to respect bakers as it takes a lot of time, patience and finesse to make really outstanding bread.

Today, the Boulangerie Chef showed us how to make a Baguette Traditions, which is a handmade baguette. We also made several different specialty breads: whole wheat, rye, pain de mie, etc. I found that making the dough by hand was much more rewarding and fascinating than using a machine. However, if I were a baker and had to be up every morning at 4 am, I might change my tune and be thankful for all the technological advances in the recent past.

Needless to say, I enjoyed my fair share of bread this evening and can honestly say that I have never been prouder to walk down the streets of Paris than I was tonight with my hot, freshly baked, crusty bread. The aroma was intoxicating.

How to make baguette tradition:



Make the well (all too familiar by now).



Add water, salt and yeast.



Mix.

Until thick and pull together.

Knead for 20-25 minutes. Again, arm muscles are in high demand!

Let it rest.

Flatten it and "turn" like puff pastry one time.

Let rest again (Wish I could rest as much as this dough does).

Shape into 5 pieces and rest again.

Roll by hand into baguettes. And guess what? Rest again (see what I mean?).

Bake in the coolest contraption to call itself an oven ever.

And Voila! Baguettes Traditions.

Chef making "petits pains."



Petits pains ready to bake.

Finished product. How cute! Makes you want to grab a tub of butter, doesn't it? Don't lie.

An industiral baker's life saver. A machine that forms the baguette for you. Throw the bread in the top.

And it pops out shaped just like this. Don't ask me how. I feel like there has to be little dough elves in there to make it so perfect.

We learned about the different types of flour used in french bread baking.

And the types of bread the different flours produce.

Specialty breads ready to be formed and baked.

They turned out gorgeous!

Close up of the coolest oven ever! Put the unbaked loaves on this contraption that looks like a hospital gurney that adjusts up and down so that multiple ovens can be accessed easily.

Push the handle and the unbaked loaves go into the long oven.

You later get the baked bread out with these ultra long wooden paddles.

And the outcome is more delicious bread. We made so much bread it was ridiculous. Most of it was given to charity, but the rest we proudly took home.