To carb or not to carb.

So, to continue our quest to eat less carbs, I have taken out my strong bread flour out today and decided to see if I can bake some baguettes. I can indeed, it turns out. 🙂

From 500g of flour, 20 g of fresh yeast and a splash of water I’ve made a starter, then added 10g of salt into the remaining flour and slowly added a bit less than 350 ml of cold water. Once all the ingredients were combined, kitchen aid did the great job of working the dough for about 7 minutes. It was quite sticky and runny, but was left to prove in a square tin lined with cling film and lightly oiled, covered and sat on the garden table till more than doubled in size. Then 4 small baguettes were formed. I watched a youtube video on how to handle baguette dough. The recipe I was using was Paul Hollywood’s, but I didn’t want to mess up all this lovely air in the dough and will be using a special French bread tin, that Maz has ordered for us.

Shaped baguettes were proving for another hour and a bit, then transferred onto the lined baking trays, slashed with a razor and dusted with flour. Baked in 220 degrees for 25 minutes with a tray of boiling water on the bottom of the oven for crust.

So, 4 small baguettes were done, 2 were eaten on the spot by the 3 of us, with butter. Third one accompanied the courgettini for dinner, 4th was given to Keava.

We loved them. And will be making them again, it wasn’t all that difficult.

Courgettini were also fantastic. And I was right- a rich, garlicky tomato sauce, spiked with chili and topped with parmesan is the way to go. This dish will also be made again and often, maybe not always alongside a tone of fresh bread!