French bread wrap up

Since the first ciabatta came out pretty good my motivation for that experiment has dissipated a bit, haha. I may continue, or pick a different style. It was good, and the boys liked it, but it doesn't make for good grilled cheese. Also technique seems far less important than recipe.

At any rate, I decided to do baguette again but this time to use the technique of pain d'epi to make a holiday wreath - make the loaf into a ring and then take the scissors to it and make a nice looking loaf that way. We'll see how it turns out.

Also wanted to take the opportunity to wrap up everything I learned about baguette making. Here are the key points.

• Recipe - http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-baguettes-and-stuffed-baguettes-recipe
• I used 260g of water in Oct/Nov. More water did not make for bigger holes in the crumb and made it a huge pain to knead.
• I prefer pointed ends in the baguette loaf.
• Use a razor blade to make deep long slashes.
• For Pain d'Epi cut deep into the loaf with scissors.
• Preheat the oven with a small metal pan in there. Throw ice cubes in that after putting the bread in and just before closing the oven door.
• Before placing the loaves in the oven, spray them with the sprayer from the sink so they're good and soaked.

Picture of the pain d'epi loaf coming shortly...

Here it is, going to call it pain de Noël since it's supposed to resemble a Christmas wreath.

And prior to cooking...