Friday 29 February 2008

February Daring Bakers Challenge - French Bread


I somehow landed a whole Saturday to myself. Sitting in front of the Saturday morning music clips with coffee and hot cross bun I wondered what I could do. After a few sleepy minutes I realised the next Daring Bakers Challenge – Julia Child’s French Bread!

The challenge had been set about 2 or 3 weeks ago at this stage by Mary from Breadchick and Sara from I Like to Cook.


As I looked through the Daring Bakers discussion site I noticed many people were bowing out because this month’s challenge was too hard… Hmm how hard could it be I thought.

I then read the recipe (which took a long time!) and understood why people had had such a thought! Maybe I should consider bowing out gracefully myself…

I walked into the kitchen at 11am and cleaned everything to have a fresh canvas, and with that the games began. Some people said it took them 9.5 hours. I assume because I was in hot and humid Sydney, Australia I lucky as it only took me about 4 – 5 hours start to finish. The dough rose much quicker than the recipe indicated, both times.

And so, with all that time kneading, waiting for the yeast to do its job, and brushing the rolls with iced water every 3 minutes during their time in the oven they came out great! They were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I was very pleased. I was surprised they were so salty, but I’m not complaining! What a treat that all this effort and time produced gorgeous little French dinner rolls. Thanks Mary and Sara.

We don’t have a printer at home, so I went up to a local internet cafĂ© and printed the recipe. It was 11 pages! Therefore I am not posting it here. If you would like to check out the recipe, please find it here.

And, of course, if you would like to check out my fellow Daring Bakers, please do so here.


S

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your rolls look absolutely fabulous! I'm jealous ;-) Congratulations on a successful challenge!

Dharm said...

Great Job guys! The rolls look just great. Mine took a long time as although its hot and humid here in Malaysia, I let the bread rise in a cooler area of the house - I was so afraid of messing up that I followed the temperature requirements stringently!! Great Job again and yes, the bread did taste lovely!!

Gigi said...

I agree this was a long recipe. In the end you got very lovely rolls!

glamah16 said...

You got a nice color to yours. I tried twice, but still didn't attain that golden color.Great job.

Gabi said...

Your rolls are beautiful! At first I was thinking wow they must have made this recipe a bunch of times- then I realised they were lovely rolls not loaves :) Really great color on your crust!
Nice Job!
x x x

Big Boys Oven said...

Yours look so gorgeous, nice browning too!

KJ said...

Fantastic job!! Your bread looks delicious.

Jenny said...

Nice job on the bread ladies!! Nothing like a bunch of butter on some good bread, yumm!! It was a fun challenge!

Andrea said...

Your rolls look soooo good, especially with the butter slathered on! Here in the North it's a wee bit cold, so the dough took quite a long time to rise.

Meeta K. Wolff said...

Brilliant job on the rolls. They look great!

kate said...

wow. your rolls look so great!
i didn't even attempt it. the recipe was so dang long i couldn't even get thru it!

Deborah said...

What perfect rolls! Great job!

Unknown said...

See? No need to bow out. Great job. :)

Mother Bliss said...

Wow, your rolls look soooo good! Great job! I wish mine looked that good...

Princess of the kitchen said...

your rolls look absolutley fab!Well fdone

Sheltie Girl said...

Your rolls turned out beautifully.

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

Anonymous said...

it looks great !!!!! congrats :)
it was sooooooo looooooooong :)))))

Simona Carini said...

I finally find someone who chose the same shape as I did: great job!

Karen Baking Soda said...

Hmm nice buns!

breadchick said...

Your rolls look great. I always reduce the salt now that I've made the bread a few times. Even Julia admitted the recipe was created at a time when the American palate wanted salt. I use 1 3/4 tsp now.

Thanks for baking with Sara and I

David T. Macknet said...

Great looking bread! And good for you for having it work out faster!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

These rolls are really nice. Congratulations!
The tropical climate here didn't do much for my bread though.

Sara said...

nice looking bread!

lina said...

Your rolls are looking really tasty! Great job